Dairy cow gives birth to triplets at local colony

By Lethbridge Herald on August 27, 2025.

Nathan Reiter
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
It was something of a miracle of life on the Riverside Colony on Monday afternoon, or at the very least a serious beating of the odds. A Holstein heifer gave birth to three calves recently at the Riverside Hutterite Colony about 30 minutes south of Fort Macleod. Triplets in cattle is an occurrence that takes place in about one out of every 150,000 live births, according to the University of Texas. Twins or triplets in Holstein calves are exceptionally rare. Chances of a Holstein heifer giving birth to triplets is estimated between one in 100,000 to one in two million births, with the likelihood of all three calves surviving skyrocketing to one in eight million. Travis Tschetter was one of the farm workers at the Riverside Colony who witnessed the calves being born. He says it was a huge surprise to all of them. “We went over and saw she was calving and she needed some help,” says Tschetter. “We pulled the first calf out and we left the mama to clean up her calf. My dad (Mike Tschetter) called us and told us another heifer wants to calve. We saw it was actually the same heifer. We really don’t even have twins out of heifers, it’s very rare.” “She pushed that one out by herself and then a little while later, she put the other one out and we were just in shock. We couldn’t believe it.” The triplets consisted of two females and one male. When a female and male are born together, it’s known in the cattle business as a “freemartin” due to the heifer being likely infertile. Because of shared male hormones throughout the pregnancy, over 90 per cent of mixed-sex pregnancies result in the heifer being unable to reproduce. Tschetter says the colony is especially proud of the birth because the triplets’ survival shows a good track of taking care of their cattle. “It’s very unique and we’re all very happy, and basically it shows the condition of our cattle. If a cow conceives one calf, it tells you your cow is in pretty good body condition. Two calves, it’s excellent body condition but three calves? If a cow’s not happy or her body condition is not good, she’s not even going to conceive one calf. We’re really proud of the way we’ve been raising cattle and working our cattle and with the dairy we’re very proud of it. It’s pretty special and it’s definitely going to be one for the books. It will be a memory that lasts generations.” The newborn calves all weigh around 50 pounds, less than the typical 80 pounds for a newborn Holstein.