Rare triplet calves born on Butler County farm

BUTLER COUNTY, Mo. -- Having been in the cattle business for nearly 45 years, Willard Abbott has had hundreds of new calves born on his Butler County farm, but none like those born on a cold, rainy March day.

It was on the morning of March 21 when one of Abbott's Charolais cows delivered triplet heifers, all of which survived. The odds of that happening are about 1 in a half million. The rare births have drawn the attention of a farm magazine and requests from area feed stores to show the calves.

"I had no idea these were going to be a multiple birth," Abbott said.

When Abbott got to his farm off of Route JJ at about 8 a.m. that day, he said, his hired hand told him one of his cows had delivered a calf and he thought she was going to have another one.

"I usually get one set of twins a breeding season, (which is) twice a year," explained Abbott. "Usually, I have pretty good luck raising them."

In fact, Abbott said, another cow had delivered twins the day before.

Within 10 minutes of his arrival, Abbott said, the second calf was born.

As Abbott was driving across the field to leave, he said, he could see the 5-year-old cow lying down again, which was not normal behavior after delivery.

The third calf arrived a short time later, weighing in at about 60 pounds, just like her identical sisters, Abbott said. Having delivered three times before, he said, this was the cow's first multiple-calf birth.

"Initially, (the cow) tried to take care of them," said the Poplar Bluff, Mo., man.

Born on a cold Sunday morning, with temperatures hovering around 35 degrees and blowing rain, "I let her try to care for them for about three hours," explained Abbott.

When the cow took one calf and walked off, Abbott said, he loaded the other two up and hauled them to his house in the Bluff Estates Subdivision, where they spent the night in his garage.

Family members, Abbott said, subsequently agreed to bottle feed the two heifers, along with one of the twins born the day before.

After bottle feeding the calves for about a week, Abbott then "put them on a cow ... What I did do and am now doing is I had two heifers that lost calves during the same calving season."

The two heifers, along with the birth cow, are nursing the triplets and one of the twins, said Abbott, who usually can get a cow to accept a calf within a week. This time, he said, it really took a "good three to four weeks."

The calves, according to Abbott, now weigh between 200 and 250 pounds each.

"Today, they look like normal calves, except they all look alike," Abbott said. " ... They're just about the same size. There's not more than 20 pounds difference in their total weight.

"They play together and run together."

Abbott, who has raised cattle since 1966, said he and the triplets will be featured in an upcoming article in Purina Mills' quarterly magazine, which will be published in August or early September.

In addition, Abbott said, he has been contacted by some of the area feed stores about "me bringing (the triplets) to their place of business to encourage people to come by and see them. ... I plan to show them at least at the feed stores."

The Charolais breed of cattle have a "little bit of a reputation" for multiple births, said Abbott, who estimates the chance of a cow having triplets as being about one in 175,000 and the chance of the calves being the same sex as about one in 500,000.

During this calving season, Abbott said, he has had three sets of twins born, but "I've had the worst luck" with them this year.

Abbott said he lost one set of twins, as well as one calf from another set; however, "all five (the twins/triplets) are still alive."

"Everybody tells me the heifers will be normal," Abbott said. "If they are, I plan to keep them."

Over the years, Abbott said, he had only one other set of triplets, but the cow didn't carry the calves to term.