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forbes family farms

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May 30, 2009
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Iowa Lone Tree
Last sunday i took a trip to go see some gelbvieh show cattle that a young woman had well anyway, we were telling stories of our cattle and she told me that one of her dad's cow gave birth to a heifer in March one year and the cow had another calf again in June, i was wondering how in heck this could happen.
 

DFSC

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San Antonio, Texas
I believe that some cows are able to cycle while bred. Meaning, that they could have two different calves with two different due dates.
 

OH Breeder

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Okotoks

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There is a scientific name for this but can't remember it so unable to even google it! We had a cow one year that we had a breeding date for and she would be due in Feb. but then we saw her bred to the bull in August and assumed it was a return cycle. She calved in February with a full term bull calf and a small heifer calf that was just getting it's hair. The heifer calf died  within minutes of delivery and if I remember corectly the bull weighed 80 lbs and the heifer only 20.The vet said at the time that when this happens the later pregnancy is usually delivered at time of the first calf's delivery but in rare cases the second calf is carried to term.
 

comercialfarmer

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OH Breeder said:
That is strange. Wonder if that could happen.

Now there was a cow in England that gave birth to triplets that were two different breeds.  Twin belgian blues and a charlois calf. The cow was inseminated with two different bulls.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agriculture/farming/7906428/Cow-gives-birth-to-triplets-of-different-breeds.html

This occurs when more than one egg is present and is fertilized by more than one sperm- easy to have more than one daddy. 


Okotoks, the term is superfetation I believe.
 

Okotoks

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commercialfarmer said:
OH Breeder said:
That is strange. Wonder if that could happen.

Now there was a cow in England that gave birth to triplets that were two different breeds.  Twin belgian blues and a charlois calf. The cow was inseminated with two different bulls.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agriculture/farming/7906428/Cow-gives-birth-to-triplets-of-different-breeds.html

This occurs when more than one egg is present and is fertilized by more than one sperm- easy to have more than one daddy. 


Okotoks, the term is superfetation I believe.
Thanks,never would have remembered that, so now I googled it and here is the info according to Wikipedia!
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Superfetation (also spelt superfoetation - see fetus) is the simultaneous occurrence of more than one stage of developing embryo in the same animal. In mammals it manifests as the formation of a fetus from a different menstrual cycle while another embryo is already present in the uterus. When there are two separate instances of fertilisation during the same cycle, it is known as superfecundation.

Superfetation is claimed to be common in some species of animals, but is extremely rare in humans. In mammals it can occur only where there are two uteri, or where the menstrual cycle continues through pregnancy. The risk with superfetation is that the second baby is often born prematurely, which can increase its odds of experiencing lung development problems
 

Okotoks

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JAGUR01 said:
Could you flush a pregnant cow?
In order to flush a cow you have to inject a bunch of hormones which would probably end the pregnancy. Plus it if there were any embryos they would be pretty impossible to flush out of the uterus if the cow were pregnant or had just delivered! I think most like the cow to be two plus months past calving.
 
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