Cash Cow: Triplet bull calves born in Valley View
Berl Tiskus
Debbie Baker leads the parade with a pan of grain so Reba, Larry, Curly and Moe will follow.
Berl Tiskus
Moe, Curly and Larry have a mid morning snack as their mom, Reba, checks on everyone.
Berl Tiskus
Moe is the odd man out, brownish black, while his brother Curly and Larry are black. Their mother has enough milk for all three.
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VALLEY VIEW — Blake and Miranda, Patsy, Gretchen and Kenny all look after Reba’s babies.
While that sounds like a whole flock of country music stars, it’s really Debbie Baker and Wade Street’s cowherd.
Reba, a 6-year-old red Angus cow, had three bull calves this year. The triplets aren’t the result of artificial insemination or embryo transplants, just the result of nature taking its course.
Since Baker couldn’t think of any country music brothers, she named the youngsters Larry, Curly and Moe after the Three Stooges. Larry and Curly are black, and Moe is coffee-with-not-much-cream brown.
Born almost two weeks ago, the little critters are doing well. Sometimes a cow won’t have enough milk for twins, let alone triplets, but Reba is feeding all three calves.
Triplets are rare, according to Jim Berardinelli, Ph.D., a reproductive physiology and endocrinologist on the Montana State University staff. When cows are checked by ultrasound, there may be an incidence of triplets every 75,000, Berardinelli said. But then the placenta may fail to form or one of the calves is reabsorbed so for live sets of triplets on the ground, the number jumps to one in approximately 107,000. To have all bull calves is as unique as one in 700,000.
The triplets may not weigh as much as other calves come weaning time, Berardinelli said.
Larry, Curly and Moe aren’t worrying about much but eating, sleeping and playing. They are part of the big happy family on Baker and Street’s 20-acre ranch, which is also home to the rest of the cows, one miniature horse and two cats.
