Cow gives birth to unique triplet calves in 105,000-to-one odds

Cow gives birth to unique triplet calves in 105,000-to-one odds

26 January 2022

A LIMOUSIN cow has defied the odds by giving birth to triplet calves on a farm near Castlewellan.

The third arrival, a bull calf, caught everyone on the McMullan family farm on the Clanvaraghan Road by surprise in a one-in-105,000 birth last Friday.

The cow was expected to have twin heifers fathered by a Charolais bull, but a third arrival was completely unexpected.

Farmer Cathal McMullan was helped by neighbours Sean Malone and Jimmy Savage, and left the new mum with her calves at around 2pm, happy with the successful birth.

However, when Cathal later checked the calves’ progress on camera from his work, he was stunned to see she had given birth to a third calf all by herself.

The birth was watched by Cathal’s sons, Dylan (14) and 12 year-old Ryan, at St Patrick’s Grammar School in Downpatrick. They own the cow and raise livestock with their older brother, Nick (23), as a hobby.

Since then, farmers from beyond the area have travelled to see the calves as it’s such a rare event.

The boys’ mother, Luda, said the birth had caused a real stir in the farming community.

“I think the last time a cow had triplets locally was in 1986, so there has been great excitement,” she continued.

“The boys knew that the cow was going to have twins as they were shown on the scan, but the third one came when nobody was looking.

“They were very concerned about the cow before the birth as she was so heavy and could hardly get up to eat, so they had to make sure she had the best food.”

Mrs McMullan said that while the calves are all thriving so far, her sons are keeping an eye on all of them to make sure their mother can adequately feed them all.

She added: “We are supplementing them at the moment and there might come a time when the third calf will have to be fed by another cow.”