Texas cow gives birth to four calves in extremely rare occurrence

A cow in De Kalb gave birth to four healthy calves recently. This is a rare event for cattle. A cow in De Kalb gave birth to four healthy calves recently. This is a rare event for cattle. Photo: Courtesy Photo/Dora Rumsey-Barling Photo: Courtesy Photo/Dora Rumsey-Barling Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close Texas cow gives birth to four calves in extremely rare occurrence 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

SAN ANTONIO -- A cow in De Kalb, Texas gave birth to four calves, a rare occurrence for the staple farm animal.

Dora Rumsey-Barling and her husband Jimmy are the proud owners of the cow that birthed the black calves, three of which were bulls.

The calves’ black color comes from their father’s genetics, an Angus bull.

Rumsey-Barling told KSLA News she was content with just three calves, but the fourth baby was quite a surprise.

“She lay down and the fourth one started coming out and we watched the birth of the fourth one,” she told the TV station. “It was really exciting. The adrenaline was flowing with us!”

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The cow owner told the Express-News the calves were doing well over the weekend, as the calves now belong to other owners. Two neighboring families are helping in raising three of the calves.

An LSU professor of animal sciences told the TV station having four calves is an extremely rare incident and said if the animals are fully developed, they will likely have a good chance of survival.

twhite@mysa.com

Twitter: @tylerlwhite