Triple delight for Mayo farmer

A SWINFORD farmer is celebrating the rare arrival of triplet calves on his farm.

This is the second time in recent weeks that a Mayo farmer has had a cow deliver triplets, an extremely rare occurrence.

Joe Kennedy, who farms at Kinaffe, welcomed the new arrivals last Monday, with mother, a pedigree Simmental cow he purchased last summer, and her calves - two heifers and a bull - all doing well, having needed a little assistance during the delivery.

Multiple births must run in the family - the new mother is herself a twin.

At Halloween, we reported on a triple birth on the farm of Micheal Hoban, from Errew, Castlebar. While triplets are very rare with cows, in this case what was even more rare was that all three were the same sex - heifers.