'Unusual,' 'amazing' triplet calves born at Bollinger County farm

In all the years Lance Hahn and his father, Larry, have been raising cattle, they’ve never had a set of triplet calves born — and all three are healthy, thriving, and being cared for by their mother.

This was supposed to be the first calf born in 2020, Lance Hahn said, and it ended up being three, born Jan 29.

Father and son have been farming together for all of Lance Hahn’s life, he said, on the family’s Missouri Century Farm in rural Bollinger County.

A Missouri Century Farm, among other requirements, must have been operated by the same family for at least 100 consecutive years, according to http://extension2.missouri.edu.

The farm was founded in 1850, Lance Hahn said.

“We still have the original cabin,” he said, pointing to a log structure a short distance from the barn where the triplets rested after being fed Wednesday morning.

“It’s neat, knowing you’re walking the same place as your ancestors,” Lance Hahn said.

The farm’s Angus cows produce plenty of sets of twins, Larry Hahn said.

In the last 20 to 25 years, about 100 sets of twins have been born, Lance Hahn said, with eight sets born in 2018.

Lance Hahn said his research indicates there’s about a 1 in 100,000 chance of triplet calves being born, and said it’s not necessarily the same bull fathering multiple births.

One cow on the farm does have a set of twins every year, Lance said, but not all of the cows are that predictable.

Larry Hahn said he’d suspected the unnamed cow known by her tag number, 3, was pregnant with twins.

“I was expecting bigger calves,” he said, and he encouraged her to get up after the first two were born. “I didn’t think it was triplets,” but the cow kept lying back down and kicking at her stomach, as cows will when they’re in labor.

Then the third calf emerged, he said.

Normally, the farmers don’t attend calf births, Lance Hahn said, but the expectant cows are kept in a pen closer to the house, visible from the road, that he and his father drive past several times a day.

“That way we can check on them,” Lance Hahn said.

To have all three healthy and accepted by the mother is “amazing,” he said.

“We do have to help her out with some bottle feeding,” Lance Hahn said, adding unless a cow is specifically bred to be a dairy cow, she just can’t produce enough milk to keep up with three hungry calves.

The triplets aren’t all identical, Lance Hahn said. There’s a bull calf that weighs about 75 pounds and two heifers, weighing in at about 50 or 55 pounds each.

Sometimes, having a male and female born together can cause the female to be sterile, Lance Hahn said, but he hopes because the heifers were born together and the bull born separately, the heifers will be able to breed one day.

But that’s in the future, he said. For now, they’re looking forward to the rest of the calving season.