Knowing that the twin rate is rare in commercial beef cattle, here we present an even rarer case of twin birth from two different sires after natural mating, also called heteropaternal superfecundation.
Heteropaternal twins refers to twins with different sires. A new study by ICBF reveals how many twin calves have different sires. Twining rates in cattle range from 1% to 5% depending on the breed with dairy breeds typically having the highest rates.
“It is estimated that about 2% of beef cattle pregnancies result in twins,” said veterinarian Bob Larson. He explained that twins are the result of either a double ovulation by the cow or an embryo that splits very early in development.
If an ultrasound exam is carried out early enough in gestation, twins can be detected. This may help in identifying a potential twin birth when the cow is first going into labour and may provide the producer with an indicator to check for a second calf during delivery.
The potential good and the likely bad
Not necessarily, and not usually. Beef cows are not designed for twins. A cow pregnant with twins is more likely to experience dystocia, or difficultly calving. Even if the calves are born without issues, it's common for one twin to be weaker than the other.
In a normal yearling heifer there's about 3 inches between the top of the vulva and the anus, and in a freemartin these are closer together. “The vulva is tiny and the bottom part is often tipped up, with a large tuft of hair at that location,” says Palmer.
When these antigens mix, they affect each other in a way that causes each to develop with some characteristics of the other sex. “Although the male twin in this case is rarely affected by reduced fertility, the female twin is completely infertile in more than 90% of cases,” Selk says.
Estimates of the percentage of beef cattle births that produce twins vary. One estimate (Gilmore) puts the percentage at about 0.5% or 1 in every 200 births. Approximately one-half of the sets of twins should contain both a bull and a heifer calf.
Cows carrying twins had an average gestation length of 274.0 days, which was confirmed to be shorter than their herd mates carrying single calves for 278.7 days. There was a significant (p < 0.001) difference in this study of nearly 5 days due to the type of calving. The average length of gestation was 276.3 days.
Identical twin calves are pretty rare.
In cows, this is called dizygous twins, in humans we call this fraternal twins. Less than 10% of cattle twins are monozygous, or “identical” twins. So even if you have two female or two male calves that look the same, odds are they probably aren't identical twins.
Certain breeds, such as Simmental, Charolais, and Holstein, and also large heifers are more likely to produce twins. On the downside, cows that deliver twins have twice as many problems as cows that only deliver a single calf. Cows that deliver twins also have a much larger feed requirement.
It is incredibly rare for a cow to give birth to triplets, reported WQAD. It's only a 1 in 105,000 chance that it happens in the first place, and when it does, many of the babies end up dying. For the ones that do survive, it's not likely that the mom will accept and take care of all three as her own.
Only one out of every 105,000 bovine births produces triplets. CHASEBURG — One in every 105,000. Those are the mind-boggling odds a beef cow in southwestern Wisconsin beat when she gave birth to triplets in mid-May.
It should be used only in herds that are superior, and only those bulls that are clearly outstanding should be the object of a linebreeding program. Mating of close relatives, such as brothers with sisters or parents with offspring, should be avoided.
Hint: Generally, two sperms do not fertilize the same egg. When one sperm comes in contact with the zona pellucida layer, there occur changes in the membrane, which prevent further entry of sperms. Two sperm fertilizing the same is very rare and occurs in very rare cases and embryos usually do not survive.
Can you breed registered cattle father to daughter, mother to son, and brother to sister? Mating of beef cattle that are close relatives (brother-sister, sire-daughter, son-dam) produces high levels of inbreeding. Inbreeding generally is detrimental to long-term reproductive performance and growth.
Theoretically, a cow could manage to become pregnant more than once in any single year, if the rebreeding takes place rapidly. However, breeders know it's good management practice to allow the cow to rebreed only until the calves are a bit older. 82 days is considered to be an ideal calving interval for rebreeding.
If in the feedlot and identified, they should be given a steer implant as their hormonal profile more closely mimics a steer. The issue here is they tend to get ridden lots if put in the steer pen and are the more aggressive ones if put in the heifer pen.
High milk-producing breeds and strains of cattle take longer to start cycling again after calving than lower milk producers. Mature cows usually take about 60 days to come on heat again after calving; young cows may take 90 days or more.
In Australia, twins happen in 1 in every 80 births. This means that 1 in 40 Australians is a twin. The birth rate of identical twins is the same around the world and doesn't vary with the mother's age.
The longest interval between the birth of twins is 90 days, in the case of Molly and Benjamin West, dizygotic (fraternal) twins born in Baltimore, Maryland, USA to parents Lesa and David West (all USA) on 1 January and 30 March 1996.
The quick answer to this question is that, in a twin pregnancy, it is the mother's genes that determine twins. First up, giving birth to identical twins is not genetic, but conceiving fraternal twins is. The mother may have the genetic trait of releasing two eggs in one menstrual cycle.
Puberty in bulls occurs when they can produce viable sperm. This happens at approximately 12 months of age, though it can vary in individual bulls several months before or after this age depending on biological type (primarily frame size and potential mature weight), nutrition, and health status.
Freemartinism is recognized as one of the most severe forms of sexual abnormality among cattle. This condition causes infertility in the female cattle born twin to a male. When a heifer twin shares the uterus with a bull fetus, they also share the placental membranes connecting the fetuses with the dam.
1. Age at Puberty. Heifers should reach puberty from 1 to 3 mo before the average age that heifers are to be bred. For example, in order for heifers to be bred as yearlings and to calve at 2 yr of age, they should have reached puberty by 12 to 14 mo of age.