‘A miracle’: Cow gives birth to four calves at once, Ontario farmers surprised
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Ruthven farmer Abram Nelson has been raising cows for many years – but he had never seen quadrupled calves being born before. The small rural community is in southwestern Ontario.
That’s why he can’t stop being amazed that one of his Aberdeen Angus females gave birth to four healthy offspring on a recent afternoon.
“To me, it’s a miracle. Yes, it is,” said Nelson, a Mennonite whose first language is Low German.
“It was a surprise to me. I was the happiest person on earth.”
The highly unlikely birth occurred on a Tuesday. By Wednesday afternoon, the four newborns were able to bleat for milk and wander around Nelson’s property.
according to BBCWho reported on a similar situation in the United Kingdom last year, the chances of cows having quadruplets are about one in 700,000.
But the chances of all four babies being born alive and healthy is only one in 11 million.
“It’s a thing that doesn’t happen very often,” said Nelson, who describes himself as a religious person. “Especially with four healthy calves.”
Nelson said there was absolutely no medical intervention in the procedures for the mother cow – or Charlie, the bull who gave birth to four calves. “There was nothing involved,” he insisted. “It was natural reproduction. As nature would have it.”
The birth group is made up of three bull calves and one heifer calf.
Nelson’s daughter-in-law Christine Nelson said Abrams’ frequent upbeat updates in the group chat helped her family learn about the four children.
“They said, ‘Look, we’re having twins.’ And we were like, this is amazing. “This had never happened before on the farm,” Christine said.
“Half an hour later, he says, ‘I lied to you guys: There are three.’ Everyone was like, this is crazy. And then, 10 minutes later, he was over the moon. He says, ‘There are four.'”
The unexpected arrival of quadruplets has brought Abram Nelson’s number of cows to seven – but he said he’s not worried about suddenly having to feed four more cows.
Furthermore, Nelson considers them a good investment: he raises his cows as beef cattle. A one-year-old Aberdeen Angus bull is worth several thousand dollars on the open market.
“Oh yes, four at once – that’s unexpected,” Nelson said.
