next »

Triplet calves were born on the Ken and Sue Meidinger farm at Zeeland for the first time ever. The farm has been in operation for 85 years.

Mama cow had the first of the trio on her own, and then Ken suspected something was going on. He got her corralled, checked her out and pulled the second and third calves.

“Talk about a confused mother!” Ken said. “Right from the start she didn’t want anything to do with the two that were pulled.”

He put the pair in a warming box and dried them off that night. The next morning, he put them in with the cow and the first calf. She sniffed her calves and then accepted all three.

The calves are nursing on their mother, but they receive milk replacer in the morning and evening as a supplement.

At press time, they were in a pen by the barn, running around with heifers and their calves.

Sue takes care of the triplets, and they come running when she hollers for them—they know it’s meal time.

The Meidingers’ daughter, Sarah, a sophomore at the University of Mary, Bismarck, was home the weekend after the triplets were born, and she bottle fed them.

Now, two drink out of a bucket and the third still likes the bottle.