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Twin calf question

B

Brown Swiss

Well-known Member
I know from years of experience that in most cases a bull and heifer calf twins the heifer will be a freemartin. In years past they all seem to come out bull calf first then heifer and the bull was a bigger calf. Yesterday I had a set, well two sets of twins born, but one set was both heifers, the set with the bull the bull calf came out last and was the smaller of the two. Does this give the heifer more chance to not be a freemartin? Since being more the dominate one if you will. My wife had to ask me this, and I had no clue. In any way I will sleeve her when big enough and will see.
 
No. Freemartins arise from testosterone from the bull calf messing with development of the heifer calf. Size of the calves won't matter... whether or not the placenta allowed for hormone transfer is what makes the difference.
 
Connie Moonie is right about the hormone transfer causing the heifer to be a freemartin. The thing is it does not always happen. Maybe 20% of the time the heifer will be normal.
 
I"ve heard of being able to detect a freemartin at a much earlier age by using a straw. If it bottoms out, it"s a freemartin, simply because they don"t have all of the repro organs.
 
last year i had a set of twins bull and free martin heifer. my local veterinarian told me a blood test can be done to learn if heifer will be sterile . my was sterile the odds are like 90% of time she will not bred
 
A freemartin is the result of a fusion of the two placentas early in the gestation. Usually in the first month.
The common supply of blood allows a exchange of hormones between the two calves.
Since testicular development occurs before ovarian development it messes with the heifer developing correctly.
So it does not matter which one is dominate or bigger. If the hormone exchange is there early enough there will be problems with development.

This happens in about 90% of the cases with male/female calves.
The female will be sterile and the male while not sterile can have reduced fertility.

In about 10% of the cases the placenta will not fuse or it will fuse late in the gestation.
In these cases both calves will be normal.
 
Even if the heifer could breed, I would be loathed to keep her in the herd. Twins have twins. We rarely ever have a set of twins, because I cull the twins from the herd, and will not use a bull that is a twin.
Giving birth to twins near always knocks the zip right out of the cow, and she ends up giving you less milk. Not to mention the complications at time of giving birth.
If you get rid of the twining genes from your herd, it will make your life easier, and more profitable farm. I do realize there are more twin calves born to Holstein cows than other breeds, so this could be not so easy done as said.
 
No... not usually, if ever. Placenta structure in humans is A LOT different than cattle. Example: an unborn baby gets immunity from the mother across the placental membrane. In the cow's case, no immunity transfers, and the calf is born with NO antibodies. Consequently, they must all come from mother's colostrum- hopefully before the calf ingests a lot of dirt or manure.

The gut in a calf is prepared to accept those antibodies for up to 24 hours... after that, the rate of transfer diminishes quickly.

So, that is a little off topic, but shows a few differences.
 
I have had several sets of twins in years past but many do not seem to have twins themselves, maybe lucky, or they jump a generation? I don't know, it is harder on the cow I do agree. I give the cow 2 bottles of calcium even if she don't show signs of needing it when they have twins, I figure better safe then sorry, and they give less milk if they go down with milk fever.
 
That is one of the scarey and crazyer things you see on the farm. Cow giving birth and all seams well after she is done. Standing there licking her calf, gives a funny sounding moan, and goes over like a bowling pin. Her eyes are rolling around in her head like cart wheels. Grab the coke bottle, some calcium, a fillup of water, and a hose and big honkin needle. Find that vein and plug her in. After you are done stand back for two or three minutes. All of a sudden she comes to her senses, stands up and looks like not a darn thing has happened. Just amazing.
 
I have never tried to hit the vein, on the right side of the cow is a triangle spot at their stomach, stab the needle in and put two bottles in, in the vein is a little risky, not bad I understand, but I never wanted to loose a cow trying it out.
 
Risky, how so? I've helped administer hundreds of bottles of calcium intravenously and never had one drop dead from stabbing her with the needle. They drop dead because the bottle is too little too late, but never from the needle itself.

Don't know how accepted it is, but a long time ago the vet showed us how much easier it is to hit the milk vein, rather than the neck vein. Can hit the milk vein on the first try 95% of the time, if you can get it before she goes down.
 
I believe if researched, charlois have the highest instances of twins.

I personally don't mind twins. I'll usually have a couple of sets, and have had as many as 6 sets one year. I'll wean one at 175 pounds, and leave the other on the cow. We tiedown rope, and it works out pretty good here.
 
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