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Farmers receive triplet cows for Christmas

Photo

Photo by Bill Olmsted

Triplet calves were born on Dec. 23 on the rural Avalon farm of John Ransom. Estimates place the chances of births like this at 1 in 100,000.

BRADFORD TOWNSHIP — Christmas came a little early for Bradford Township farmer John Ransom, and the presents were wrapped in three packages.

One of the farmer’s cows Dec. 23 gave birth to triplets, a rare occasion among dairy cows. Triplets of the same sex are rarer than the two bulls and one heifer that Ransom’s cow Ruby had. But 48-year-old Ransom, who thought Ruby was having twins, was surprised nonetheless.

“I was ending a normal day when I went to feed the cows and noticed her missing,” he said. “I went to the barn to check on her and saw the first two. Then I noticed the third one on the corner of the barn.”

Ransom owns a 170-acre dairy farm with about 79 animals. This is Ruby’s third time calving. Ransom said the calves were born without assistance and are doing fine.

Betty Fisher, who has lived with Ransom for about 20 years, said twins are more common, but nobody around seems to have heard of triplets.

“I did some research when this happened, and it seems that the chances of triplets of different sex is one in 100,000,” she said. “Chances of triplets of the same sex is about one in 1 million.”

Ransom’s family has farmed in the county for about 140 years, and this is the first reported set of triplets, he said. The initial shock is over, and Ransom said he is back to business as usual. The calves are getting no special treatment.

“It’s a novelty more than anything,” he said.