The farm has been in the family since 1882 and the family have seen many animal births over the years, so knew exactly what to expect – or did they?
When the cow became pregnant, the family were very happy and looked forward to welcoming a new member to the farm to look after.
Cow’s size suspicious
Before the cow gave birth Deb noticed that she was bigger than she expected but thought nothing of it at the time.
Her daughter Jamie Belz told MPR News: “Mom had noticed she was large, but didn’t think too much of it. Twins are fairly common,” Belz said. “Actually, they had a set of twins born earlier this year, but unfortunately they came during the crazy cold weather we had in April and they didn’t make it.”
But when it was time to give birth, the couple could only stand in amazement at how many calves came out.
Not one, not two, not three but four sweet calves came to the world thanks to Chuck and Deb’s helping hands!
The whole family then worked really hard to take care of them, hoping they would all survive the night.
Now the family have a busy feeding schedule making sure these babies, two males and two females, grow big and strong.
Deb and Chuck must have to set their alarm clocks even earlier to feed these demanding babies at all times of the day and night.
The four calves managed to get through their first night and today the little calves are healthy and strong! Even the youngest family members occasionally come to the farm to help take care of them.
Having quadruplets is rare in humans, but when cows have quadruplets it’s even more of a medical phenomenon . It is estimated that only one in 700,000 cows give birth to quadruplet calves!
Even more surprising is the odds of all four calves being born alive are one in 11.2 million, according to “Veterinary Obstetrics and Genital Diseases.”
Talk about a miracle!
What a wonderful story from the animal kingdom! Like and share if you too loved reading about this rarity.