OXBOW, Sask--Rare Siamese twin calves were born on a farm near Oxbow on March 20th. The calves shared the same head, but had two separate bodies. They died 15 minutes after they were born. Dr. Otto Radostits, professor emeritus, at University of Saskatchewan Western College of Veterinary Medicine said the birth of Siamese twin calves is extremely rare. "It is an embryological mistake. Something happened during the division of the embryo. It happens once in ten million times," Radostits said.
Radostits says the deformed calf is nothing for cattle producers to worry about. "This is not something that is inherited. A calf with more than four limbs, it has been reported, it is in our textbooks. I have seen one in a museum. But, I have never seen one in real life myself. We have seen other abnormalities such as misplaced hearts, misplaced smaller than normal eyes, and no anus and no tail," Radostits said.
Dr. Martin Hugh-Jones with the School of Veterinary Medicine, at Louisiana State University said the Siamese twin calves are a strange anomaly. "These are usually the result of either the fusing of two eggs or the incomplete separation of a pair of identical twins. Genetic analysis would tell one which was which. Obviously, if it was the fusing of fraternal twins their DNA would differ; if these are identical twins, they would be the same," said Hugh-Jones.
The birth of a severely deformed calf is always frightening for a cattle breeder, raising the concern of genetic disease. At the first the Oxbow area veterinarian was going to allow the cattle producer to dispose of the deformed calves. Then he returned to the farm to retrieve them and will not disclose where or whose farm the calf came from. Dr. Phillip Murray, the Oxbow-area veterinarian said the charolais cross Siamese twin calves were born alive by Caesarean section and died 15 minutes later. The twins shared one head, two eyes, had four ears, and then two separate bodies. "In my many years of practicing as a veterinarian I have never seen such a thing," said Dr. Murray at his farm near Oxbow.
Murray is keeping the animals in a deep freeze. He is looking for a taxidermist or a University that would want it and preserve it for research purposes. Murray said the six-year-old mother cow is doing well and has adopted a twin calf that was born the same day to another cow.
