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Twin Guernseys born
An early Christmas gift has arrived and we decided to share the news with you.Twins, triplets and even quads are pretty common in our sheep barn. With cows its a whole nother ballgame.
Twin occurrence in cows is rare (1 in 1000) and when it happens, it isn't good news especially when a male and a female are the twins because the newborns will likely be sterile and hence can serve no purpose on the farm.
Why sterile?
When a heifer (female calf) is born twin to a bull (male calf) the female will be born sterile and is called a "Freemartin" ( wikipedia - Freemartin ) In the past we described how our Guernsey cows were located all over the Midwest and trucked here for the purpose of making the milk for one cheese: our 12 mo nth cave aged Somerset. We have been trying to increase the amount of Guernsey milk because we didn't expect the success of the cheese and the quick sellout. (Wheels made in 2010 are gone, early wheels made in 2011 will not be ready until April 2012.)
A point of information about dairy cows:
They must be bred and give birth or milk stops after 10-12 months. So if you want to operate a dairy, you better be worrying lots about who is and isn't bred, when due and when to re-breed your cows. Missing an ovulation date (heat) will surely mean lower milk production the following year. Missing many heats will put you out of business.
After 11 months of pregnancy, the farmer is relieved to see a normal delivery and always hopes for a single female that can be raised to join the herd and replace an old retired cow. A good young milking cow is worth upwards of $2,000 and a female from a highly sought after show cow can go for six figures! A male has almost no value.
We were warned about breeding issues with Guernseys and our record to date shows lower success rate than other breeds, some miscarriages and a couple that would not breed at all.
The great news this week is that both newborns were females (shown above with identical white spots on their heads, sucking on Val's fingers) hence both will be raised, grazed, bred and milked for years to come. To top it off, within 48 hours, another heifer (female) was born to another Guernsey making it 3 for 2 !
This means more milk, busier cheesemakers, more Somerset, happier customers and smiling chefs all over the metro area.
What an early gift for the season ! 
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