They are the first set of triplets born on the Hyde family farm at Springdale between Morrinsville and Te Aroha.
“Better still, they are all heifer calves that will be kept as replacements for the milking herd,” he said.
Cow 173 has been well known on the farm as the slow coach, always at the back of mob and about twice the size of all the others.
“We all decided that she had twins so she was closely watched as she drew closer to her due date.
“She started calving on Wednesday morning and needed a little human help at around 11am.
“Mum and all her calves are very happy and healthy.”
The farm has usually started calving on July 15 but this year pulled it forward to July 4 to avoid the mud. By this morning 20 calves had arrived.
The farm, milking 280 cows, carries all the young stock onfarm and produces all its own crops. Hyde hopes to have 80 replacement heifers by the end of calving.
He isn’t going to change 173’s number to 123 but he did think of changing others so the calves could be 1, 2 and 3.
But he says tags, especially the NAIT ones, are difficult to remove.
