The ground was sodden and rain was pelting down when Andrea and John Leek witnessed the birth of a first calf through a paddock’s surveillance camera. The couple thought it was nothing out of the blue, but Andrea decided to head down to care for the newborn.
But instead of finding one calf in the paddock of their Nar Nar Goon property, there were three. John and his son were soon out to investigate on the rainy night last Saturday.
“There were calves everywhere and we couldn’t work out what was going on,” John said.
The three discovered the other cows in the paddock had not birthed, which only added to the confusion.
“They were telling me it’s not possible, that another cow has had calves and they were walking around trying to work out which cow has had the calves.
“Little did we know that here’s two more calves, and she’s actually had triplets,” John said.
The odds for a cow to have triplets is one in more than 100,000, but it’s even more rare for all three to survive.
John has been farming his whole life at Mt Ararat Simmentals and said it’s something he’s never heard of before.
“I’m 68 and I’ve never heard of anything like it in my life … I reckon it’s one in a million,” he said.
The two young bulls and heifer were brought to a cow shelter where they were given extra TLC, along with their Simmental mother.
“That cow has been carrying around at least 90kg of just calves inside her, so she’s done a massive job and she’s turned out to be a great mum,” John said.
The next morning, each cow in the paddock was rechecked multiple times only to confirm their theory.
The identical triplets came from five-year-old Mt Ararat Hazel, who has accepted and is caring for all three of her calves.
“To get to that stage where you know they’re going to live, now we can get excited.
“In a couple of years those bulls will be ready to go out into the breeding world and be sold as stud bulls,” John said.
John will have the triplets on display for Beef Week in January, where people can learn more about their farm and the beef industry.