Thrice as nice

MAYVILLE, Wis. — For the first time in its 89-year history, triplet calves were born at the farm operated by Dennis and Laura Batterman. On June 10, a first-calf heifer gave birth to not one, not two, but three healthy calves. She required no assistance to deliver two bulls and one heifer in the same calving.

“These triplets are amazing,” Laura said. “Everything about this is amazing.”

Dennis and Laura farm with their son, Steven, near Mayville, where they milk 125 cows and farm 310 acres. Steven is the third generation on the farm that has been in the Batterman family since 1936. Dennis and Laura bought the farm in 1989. The Battermans have one hired employee, and Steven’s wife, Jessica, also helps on the farm. The Battermans’ daughter, Melissa, who is the office manager at Equity Livestock, helps on the farm when needed.

Dennis discovered the calves around 8 p.m. in the dry cow barn.

“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “There was a whole pile of calves, all wet and slippery. Every so often we get a set of twins, but we never had a set of triplets before. They were healthy and looked good from the start.”

Dennis said their dam was born blind in one eye and was almost stepping on the calves because she could not see them.

“Only her left eye is good,” he said. “If you’re coming up on her right side, you have to touch her to let her know you’re there. She’s a pretty good, husky heifer. A thin heifer would’ve had a hard time having triplets.”

Laura walked into the barn not long after Dennis and was shocked at what she saw.

“It was a total surprise,” she said. “The fact they were all alive is amazing. They were also a decent size.”

Laura named the Red & White Holstein calves Remy, Rayven and Rosy. The trio shares a pen in the calf shed, which houses all the calves on milk.

Their dam is three-quarters Red & White and one-quarter Jersey. The Battermans said they had no indication the heifer was carrying multiple calves.

“The vet confirmed her pregnant but never said anything about triplets,” Dennis said. 

The sire of the calves is Mclovin-Red.

“He has good calving ease, and that’s why we use him,” Steven said. “He is +1.3 for heifers, which is really good. We like to use him on a red heifer or a smaller cow. We have a lot of different crosses. For having some Jersey in her, the dam is a pretty good size.”

The Battermans have been crossbreeding for more than 20 years. Their herd is about two-thirds Holsteins and one-third Red & White Holsteins with a Jersey mix, along with a few Linebacks, Milking Shorthorns and Ayrshires.

“The little Jersey cows are good cows,” Dennis said.

Red and white bloodlines in the herd date back to the 1990s when a couple of red cows could be found in the Batterman barn.

“We’ve had a lot of red in our heifer calves lately,” Steven said.

Steven began breeding cows in 2014. He also does the feeding, fieldwork and fixing equipment. Cows are milked in a stanchion barn by Dennis and Laura, who also receive help from a hired hand. Laura, who does all the calf feeding, said she was not sure which method to use for giving the triplets their first meal. She considered using a lamb nipple but then decided to try them on a pail.

“They all had sucking action and drank out of a pail for their first feeding,” Laura said.

Dennis said the summertime weather made it easier on the calves compared to a winter birth. The siblings are standing out from the rest of the herd and have earned a soft spot in the Battermans’ hearts.

“It would have been nice if they were all heifers, but we’ll probably never get triplets again in our lifetime,” Laura said.

The farm’s bull calves are usually sold while still on milk, but the Battermans are thinking the plan for these calves might be different, and they may stick around a little longer.

“I will definitely be raising these triplets,” Laura said. “They are my babies.”