It's triple cream as Purbeck cow gives birth to three calves (From Bournemouth Echo)

It's triple cream as Purbeck cow gives birth to three calves

11:00am Tuesday 29th January 2013 in News By Jim Durkin

THIS rare set of triplets was a welcome surprise for one Dorset farmer.

Mike Trim delivered the calves, which are only a one-in-10,000 occurrence, at his farm in Church Knowle, Purbeck, earlier this month.

Most dairy farmers have only ever seen dead triplets, so the births were really against the odds.

Mike, of Barnston Farm, told the Daily Echo: “We quite regularly get twins but I’ve never seen triplets in my lifetime. I’ve spoken to my father, who has been farming all his life and he’s never heard of any either.

The 33-year-old farmer delivered the calves.

“We scanned our cows in the summer and we were told by the vet to expect twins, so we looked after them that little bit better, as you tend to do with twins.

“It was only when I was delivering them that I realised what was happening. The chap I was working with laughed when I had to go for another one.”

Two of the calves are female and one is male. Mike thinks only the girls may have come from the same egg.

“The cow may have conceived from two different bulls, which can happen,” said Mike.