Triplet heifers beat the odds

ST. MARTIN, Minn. – The Libbesmeier family welcomed an early Memorial Day surprise on their farm when one of their cows gave birth to three healthy Holstein heifers. 

“This is the first time in 30 years,” said Allen Libbesmeier who milks 150 cows with his brother, Dave, on their two farms near St. Martin. 

The triplets were born at Dave’s operation on May 11, around 5:30 p.m. Dave came home from the field that Wednesday to check on the cow and found a little black heifer standing near its mother.

“I thought to myself what a dinky calf for a big cow,” said Dave.

He took a closer look and to his surprise found two more heifers hiding behind the cow. She had them all by herself that afternoon. Dave said that two of the heifers kept close to each other and had similar markings while the third acted more independent. 

Alan said jokingly that he thought Dave was seeing things since he had hit his head a few days prior. Alan was surprised how big and healthy they were for being triplets. He said he figured they weighed around 50 pounds when they were born.

“I didn’t have to tube feed them,” said Alan. “They took off on the bottle.”

The Libbesmeiers feed the triplets three times a day to help them gain weight. When the Libbesmeier brothers weighed them a week later, two of the triplets weighed 65 pounds and the third weighed 70 pounds. 

After having three heifers, Dave said the cow is milking well in the barn. She is a 6-year-old cow on her third lactation. Alan said they had a difficult time breeding her back so they put her with their bull.

“This was a Select Sires cow and a Genex bull, so that must be the secret,” said Alan.

Having triplets is a rare commodity on a farm but to have triplet living heifers happens only once in a lifetime. According to TribToday, a study in Iowa looked at 33,000 Holstein dairy cow births. It showed that triplets only happened 0.06 percent of the time. That is roughly 1 in 1,667 births. 

The article went on to do the math that without the help of sexed semen, there is roughly a 50 percent chance that a calf is a heifer. It showed the likelihood of getting three heifers in a row is about 12.5 percent and the chance of having triplet heifers is 0.00025 percent. That is one in every 400,000 births.

Alan and Dave said they don’t want to brag much for a few more weeks until the heifers get a little bigger but they are thrilled to have beaten the odds on their farm.