Cow Defies Odds, Gives Birth To 4 Calves Eeny, Meeny, Miney And Moo

Against incredible odds, a Texas heifer named Fifteen birthed quadruplet calves in March 2015.

“We knew she was pregnant, but we didn’t know she was going to do this,” – Jimmy Barling

After noticing buzzards circling in the air, the couple went out into the fields of their De Kalb ranch and discovered that Fifteen had already dropped three calves. They stayed to witness the fourth calf being born and called their veterinarian, Dr. Mike Baird.

“They were pretty fragile when they hit the ground,” “(They were) pretty small. There’s been a lot of around-the-clock nursing care.” The smallest of the calves weighed in at about 25 pounds, one-third of the average weight of a healthy calf.

Fifteen needed some assistance nursing all four of her babies, so three calves – named Eeny, Meeny, and Miny – were taken to neighboring farms. Their sister, Moo, is doing just fine with their mother. 

Baird, who put the odds of such an event at 1 in 11.2 million, also took blood samples from each calf for DNA testing, “In the interest of science and the animal world, it’s one of those things that need to be verified beyond a shadow of a doubt.”