Kennedy Murwira
CHATSWORTH – A Gutu subsistence farmer received a surprise boost to his herd after one of his cows gave birth to three healthy female calves that he expects to significantly boost his heard over time.
Veterinary obstetrics consider a cow having multiple calves a rare, spectacular event and dairy moos, a dairy farming website puts the odds of having triplet heifers all born alive at 1:8 million.
An elated Nelson Matorera, of Matizha Village under Chief Serima said he was amazed to find that one of his cows had given birth to triplet calves during the night.
“This has never happened before and when I looked at the cow I did not expect that it would contribute so many calves to my herd in one day. Last time the cow delivered only one calf and so I did not expect this kind of surprise.
“I have since accepted the blessing from above and will make sure that all the calves survive,” said Matorera.
Matorera said when the calves were delivered on August 8 his uncle, Dr William Matizha, who is the principal of Gwebi Agricultural College, was present for the Heroes Day holidays and advised him to buy supplementary feed for the cow and the three calves.
“He advised me to buy supplementary feed in the form of dairy meal for the cow to improve lactation and to provide calf grower for the calves to keep them healthy.
“I will continue providing the supplementary feed for the next six months and will decide whether to continue after looking at how the calves are faring,” he said.
Matorera added that he will inform officers from the veterinary department about the calves to enable them to assist him with professional knowledge on how to keep them healthy.
Villagers in the area said they had never heard of such an occurrence before as they had witnessed only two calves that were born to the same cow about three years ago.news
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He who said it can not be done must not disturb the one doing it!