Wednesday 9 July 2014

A three-legged cow

Have you ever seen a three-legged cow?

No?

Me neither, until we discovered this.


We found this little one two years ago and we could hardly believe that we had a three-legged calf. It is extremely rare, and my husband had never come across one before. My husband's father had never come across one either, and between them both they have clocked up a lot of years producing beef cattle, so it was quite the unusual find.





We were surprised that it could get up off the ground with only one front leg after it's birth. I guess a lot of them can't, so this one is a proven fighter. The fact that it could get off the ground and keep up with the herd was amazing.


As you can see she was prancing around and happy as Larry with her mother. We named her Hoppy.




She ended up getting pregnant accidentally as we really didn't want her to get pregnant. We thought it may be too hard on her. The bull pushed through a fence, so here were with our pregnant heifer.



 
 
 
 

We were really worried for her as the bull was a Charolais and they produce huge calves. We waited and watched her every day.
 
When we went away for a football weekend, we got someone to check Hoppy for us as we were sure she was close to giving birth.




 
 
Fortunately for us she had her calf unassisted and while we were at home. A beautiful healthy calf. She is so good with her baby.
 
 

So glad she is ok since heifers are notorious for having trouble with their first calves. She should be alright now.

There you have it, the three-legged cow. She will hopefully produce many calves to come and she is pretty good company wandering the house paddock.

4 comments:

  1. Wow...what a strong gal! She is one amazing creature!

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  2. She is pretty amazing KL. Her front hoof grew quite large to compensate for the missing leg too. :)

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  3. Holy Cow! How amazing! So glad this story ended happily. xx

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  4. I am glad it was a happy ending for her too. I was worried that she wouldn't survive a first birth as heifers are just so tricky to deal with.

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