Wyoming’s Ryan Ranch Welcomes Triplet Calves

While we're fighting through the snow that still pelts southeast Wyoming, ranchers throughout the Northern Great Plains are busy in the midst of calving season currently. And just north of Aladdin, WY, is Ryan Ranch. Earlier this month, a set of triplet black Angus calves was born at Ryan Ranch.

It's typical for cattle to give birth to a single calf each spring. Twins are a rare feat if that were to be the case. But triplets are beyond the absolute rarest of all. The three calves are hovering below the normal weight of a newborn calf, which is around 80 to 85 pounds. One of the triplets, a bull calf, weighed in at 63 pounds while two heifers were 40 and 36 pounds.

According to sources, the odds of a cow having triplets is 1 in 100,000 while the odds of all three surviving is far worse at 1 in 400,000. Rancher Kyle Ryan spoke about the idea that genetics played its part:

We have books on all the cows we’ve had for a while...This cow, that had the triplets, her grandma had two sets of twins as a cow. Now her mom didn’t, but her grandma did...We probably own four or five twin bulls. That could possible do something with it...In your head you wonder, she’s probably got some of those genes, so you wonder did she meet up with one of those bulls. You never know.

The cow that gave birth had never birthed twins before and is five years old. The ranchers at Ryan Ranch said she is a good cow and attentive to her calves. Scott and Kyle Ryan are making sure that each calf will get plenty of milk from either the calves' own mom or another birthing cow in the event that that cow's own calf doesn't make it.

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The Ryan Ranch was founded in 1910, making it a Wyoming centennial ranch. It's was founded by Scott Ryan's great-grandparents. Scott and his wife, Tami, currently run the ranch with their son Kyle and daughters, Jessica and Molly.