Triplet Calves of Different Breeds for Coco the Somerset Cow

Coco the Holstein Friesian cow from The Old Dairy Farm at Stoke St. Gregory in Somerset has beaten amazing 105,000 to one odds of producing triplet calves. In addition, and even more surprisingly, Coco has given birth to two Belgian Blue Cross calves and a Charolais Cross calf. This is due to the calves mixed parentage as Coco had been artificially inseminated with a mixture of semen from different bulls.

Thankfully, Coco managed to safely deliver these beautiful calves without any help from a vet. Owner Anthony Gothard is quoted in the Telegraph newspaper as saying that there are three generations of his family on the farm who had ever seen anything like this before, his grandfather came out especially to see the first triplets ever to be born on the farm.

Mr. Gothard reported that he had been working on the farm on Saturday 17^th July when he found that Coco had given birth to a male Belgian Blue calf. When he returned to check on Mum and Baby later, he found that she had now had a second calf, another Belgian Blue cross, a heifer. Coming back an hour later to check again, he found a third healthy calf, the Charolais Cross.

- Just to show you that we do things a little bit different down here in Somerset, check out this Rap Video!

Experts say that triplet calves are a “statistical miracle”

The average gestation time for a calf is about the same as a human pregnancy, about 285 days, or nine months.  At birth, new-born calves weigh around 40 to 50 kilograms – although twins or triplets are usually smaller.  Calves will grow to adult size in about a year.

There have been previous cases of triplet calves reported recently.  Here is a great video of some triplet calves taking their first steps.

This video has a great story about the Sauers family farm in US where a cow had triplets – turn the sound on your monitor on!

This is a link to the BBC site where there is a lovely video of triplet calves born in Cornwall earlier this year.

If you have enjoyed this story and could share one like it, why not join HubPages and earn from your writing? Find out how on the join Hubpages page.

If you have enjoyed this story, you might like to read about Mammoth Donkeys, The Largest Breed of Donkey in The World.