It may be a bumper season for many Queensland cattle breeders due to good rains, but one farm has seen an increase in twins as well.
Key points:
A south-east Queensland grazier finds two sets of twin calves within the space of a week
A leading veterinarian says the chance of beef cattle having multiple births is less than 1 per cent
Producing twin calves puts extra pressure on their mother to produce enough milk
Grazier Sue Harrison said she was shocked to find two of her breeders had given birth to twins over the past week on her Darlington property in the state’s south-east.
“I go around and check the cows because they are all calving at the moment,” she said.
“I saw this cow laying in the grass, which is quite long, and I saw one calf pop up to have a drink, and I looked and had to do a double take, because there was another one on the other side.
“It was a bit of a surprise.”
Three days later Ms Harrison was checking the stock again and saw another cow had given birth to twins.
The sixth generation grazier said they had previously only ever seen one set of twins.
“One of the calves was born backwards so we lost him,” Ms Harrison said.
Both twins were conceived naturally from Brangus mothers and Speckle Park bulls.
A rare event
University of Queensland veterinarian Ben Wood said the chance of beef cattle having multiple births was less than 1 per cent.