US Interest in rare NZ cow
A very rare NZ triplet producing cow is creating considerable interest in the USA at the University of Wisconsin’s Department of Animal Science. Dr Brian Kirkpatrick of this University is now engaged in research on the granddaughters of this cow, seeking to identify specific genes, namely genes responsible for triplets and quadruplets, and the gene that provides uterine capacity to carry such multiples. The progeny of this cow – who produced three sets of triplets in her first three calvings - is the subject of a gene search for at least two specific genes - namely the ability to produce triplets and the uterine capacity to take them to full term. In 2009, a scientific paper was presented in the US covering the performance of this cow and her granddaughters.
This cow was born on Gordon Levet’s property, Kikitangeo, 5 kilometres west of Wellsford (Gordon is a long time Romney stud breeder and proprietor of the Kikitangeo Romney Stud). Dr Chris Morris of Ruakura named this cow (born in 1993) “Treble” after using her triplet son – named “Trio” – in his high fertility herd at Flock House, west of Palmerston North. This herd of about 70 cows of mixed breeds but mainly Friesian with other crossbreds including Charolais and Simmentals, was assembled from all over New Zealand in 1983. Selected for twin bearing attributes this herd, under Dr Morris’s management, had an eleven fold increase in twinning rate by 2000. As a result of a policy change by AgResearch, this herd was moved to the Levet property in 2002 where Dr Morris continued his research.
Treble, the cow that is creating so much interest, is of mixed breed, and judging from her colouring, would have some Jersey and Hereford in her background. She had no merit from a beef or dairy perspective and walked with a decided limp with a crookedly set hind leg. Not purposely mated, she produced triplets as a poor conditioned two year old – 1 live and 2 dead. This was noted by Gordon, but given little significance. The thought was that she should be fattened and sold. She, however, had other ideas and again conceived and appeared a year later sporting a huge gut. Several days later she had three normal single sized calves – 1 bull and 2 heifers. The heifers were subsequently found to be infertile. With the birth of a second set of triplets, Gordon telephoned Bob Welsh - a scientist at Ruakura, who in 1972 carried out embryo transfer work on one of his ewes – to see how rare his cow was. He was told that the odds of this happening would be “like winning lotto”.
From this point in time, Treble was treated like royalty and in due course deliberately mated. She appeared not to conceive and was forgotten about. However, 17 months after her last calving she was found to be in big trouble trying to calve. A vet was called, but sadly a number of hours too late. The vet removed 3 normal sized dead calves and commented on the huge size of her uterus. She did not calve again and it was assumed that there was some internal damage.
Trio the son in Treble’s second set of triplets was used in Dr Morris’s experimental high fertility herd in 2000 and 2001 at Flock House and on the Levet property in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Trio’s daughters calved from 2002 to 2008. Over that period there were 109 calvings with 15 sets of twins and six sets of triplets. Of the triplets, 2 were from 2 year olds, 2 from 3 year olds and 2 were from one cow as a 3 and 4 year old.
When one considers that these granddaughters had only 25% of Treble in their background, these figures become more significant and indicate that the genes involved must be very dominant. Especially is this so when the Morris herd with 2,677 calvings from 953 cows produced no triplets.
In 2000, tissue material was taken from Treble by scientists. Dr Wells of Ruakura produced 2 clones from this material. These clones, at 18 months of age, were monitored for ovulation rates and it was stated “these clones were observed with triplet and quadruplet ovulations after normal oestrus patterns, although such ovulations are a rare phenomenon in cattle”. However, with natural matings on the Levet property they failed to replicate Treble’s fecundity and only once produced twins.
In 2003, Dr Kirkpatrick, who runs a high fertility herd at Wisconsin in the US travelled to NZ at the request of Dr Morris; with travel cost being sponsored by PGG Wrightson. In speaking at a Field Day at Kikitangeo, Dr Kirkpatrick stated that his herd, gathered from all over the US and Canada, did not have a cow to match Treble’s performance. In Dr Kirkpatrick’s scientific paper, he outlined the performance of a “remarkable” cow and her son in both NZ and the US. The concluding sentence of this paper states “Treble and her family should produce a valuable resource for further study of variation in bovine fecundity”.
Following his visit, Dr Kirkpatrick requested that 500 semen straws be taken from Trio and sent to the US for use in his herd. As there is now considerably more information on Treble’s granddaughters in the US, Gordon emailed Dr Kirkpatrick for an update.
In his reply Dr Kirkpatrick stated that they now have 110 daughters of Trio, which have been evaluated for ovulation rates. “We are still working on trying to identify the changes in DNA sequence responsible for Treble’s high ovulation rate/triplet birth phenotype.”
Dr Kirkpatrick encountered problems with a high rate of abortions when these granddaughters of Treble were brought into the herd and produced a high percentage of triplets and quadruplets. He is now trying to reduce these multiples by having them on a low energy diet or by hormonal treatment.
The high uterine capacity – a unique trait of this bovine family – is an “objective of the future, and the Treble allele is an important part of that”.
Dr Kirkpatrick’s final comment was “we are very excited about our work with this (high ovulation) gene; the biggest challenge we face is obtaining funding for this work”.
Gordon Levet, owner of the cow that has sparked this international interest, has made the following comment “although research of this nature may appear to have no practical application, it is nevertheless important from a scientific perspective in at least two respects. First, the discovery of rare genes can be of considerable relevance for all mammals – including humans. Secondly, scientists continually need to explore the boundaries of human knowledge as often this results in unforeseen discoveries”.
This cow was born on Gordon Levet’s property, Kikitangeo, 5 kilometres west of Wellsford (Gordon is a long time Romney stud breeder and proprietor of the Kikitangeo Romney Stud). Dr Chris Morris of Ruakura named this cow (born in 1993) “Treble” after using her triplet son – named “Trio” – in his high fertility herd at Flock House, west of Palmerston North. This herd of about 70 cows of mixed breeds but mainly Friesian with other crossbreds including Charolais and Simmentals, was assembled from all over New Zealand in 1983. Selected for twin bearing attributes this herd, under Dr Morris’s management, had an eleven fold increase in twinning rate by 2000. As a result of a policy change by AgResearch, this herd was moved to the Levet property in 2002 where Dr Morris continued his research.
Treble, the cow that is creating so much interest, is of mixed breed, and judging from her colouring, would have some Jersey and Hereford in her background. She had no merit from a beef or dairy perspective and walked with a decided limp with a crookedly set hind leg. Not purposely mated, she produced triplets as a poor conditioned two year old – 1 live and 2 dead. This was noted by Gordon, but given little significance. The thought was that she should be fattened and sold. She, however, had other ideas and again conceived and appeared a year later sporting a huge gut. Several days later she had three normal single sized calves – 1 bull and 2 heifers. The heifers were subsequently found to be infertile. With the birth of a second set of triplets, Gordon telephoned Bob Welsh - a scientist at Ruakura, who in 1972 carried out embryo transfer work on one of his ewes – to see how rare his cow was. He was told that the odds of this happening would be “like winning lotto”.
From this point in time, Treble was treated like royalty and in due course deliberately mated. She appeared not to conceive and was forgotten about. However, 17 months after her last calving she was found to be in big trouble trying to calve. A vet was called, but sadly a number of hours too late. The vet removed 3 normal sized dead calves and commented on the huge size of her uterus. She did not calve again and it was assumed that there was some internal damage.
Trio the son in Treble’s second set of triplets was used in Dr Morris’s experimental high fertility herd in 2000 and 2001 at Flock House and on the Levet property in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Trio’s daughters calved from 2002 to 2008. Over that period there were 109 calvings with 15 sets of twins and six sets of triplets. Of the triplets, 2 were from 2 year olds, 2 from 3 year olds and 2 were from one cow as a 3 and 4 year old.
When one considers that these granddaughters had only 25% of Treble in their background, these figures become more significant and indicate that the genes involved must be very dominant. Especially is this so when the Morris herd with 2,677 calvings from 953 cows produced no triplets.
In 2000, tissue material was taken from Treble by scientists. Dr Wells of Ruakura produced 2 clones from this material. These clones, at 18 months of age, were monitored for ovulation rates and it was stated “these clones were observed with triplet and quadruplet ovulations after normal oestrus patterns, although such ovulations are a rare phenomenon in cattle”. However, with natural matings on the Levet property they failed to replicate Treble’s fecundity and only once produced twins.
In 2003, Dr Kirkpatrick, who runs a high fertility herd at Wisconsin in the US travelled to NZ at the request of Dr Morris; with travel cost being sponsored by PGG Wrightson. In speaking at a Field Day at Kikitangeo, Dr Kirkpatrick stated that his herd, gathered from all over the US and Canada, did not have a cow to match Treble’s performance. In Dr Kirkpatrick’s scientific paper, he outlined the performance of a “remarkable” cow and her son in both NZ and the US. The concluding sentence of this paper states “Treble and her family should produce a valuable resource for further study of variation in bovine fecundity”.
Following his visit, Dr Kirkpatrick requested that 500 semen straws be taken from Trio and sent to the US for use in his herd. As there is now considerably more information on Treble’s granddaughters in the US, Gordon emailed Dr Kirkpatrick for an update.
In his reply Dr Kirkpatrick stated that they now have 110 daughters of Trio, which have been evaluated for ovulation rates. “We are still working on trying to identify the changes in DNA sequence responsible for Treble’s high ovulation rate/triplet birth phenotype.”
Dr Kirkpatrick encountered problems with a high rate of abortions when these granddaughters of Treble were brought into the herd and produced a high percentage of triplets and quadruplets. He is now trying to reduce these multiples by having them on a low energy diet or by hormonal treatment.
The high uterine capacity – a unique trait of this bovine family – is an “objective of the future, and the Treble allele is an important part of that”.
Dr Kirkpatrick’s final comment was “we are very excited about our work with this (high ovulation) gene; the biggest challenge we face is obtaining funding for this work”.
Gordon Levet, owner of the cow that has sparked this international interest, has made the following comment “although research of this nature may appear to have no practical application, it is nevertheless important from a scientific perspective in at least two respects. First, the discovery of rare genes can be of considerable relevance for all mammals – including humans. Secondly, scientists continually need to explore the boundaries of human knowledge as often this results in unforeseen discoveries”.
