An Irish farmer has been the talk of the town after one of his cows gave birth to four identical quad calves, beating odds of more than a billion to one!
Thousands of well-wishers have descended on Tom Clair’s farm in Ennistymon, Co Clare, since the cute little foursome were born on Sunday night.
Tom said: “This is incredible. It was like scenes from an All-Ireland win yesterday with the amount of cars coming up to the farm full of people looking to see the calves. It didn’t stop until nine o’clock last night and there is no sign of it ending today either.”
The last time four identical calves were born was in Texas in 2015. It also occurred in Norfolk in 2004, and experts have said it is more than a billion to one chance.
Tom continued: “It is like winning the Lotto, but you know what, I wouldn’t swap these calves for anything you could win in the Lotto.
“I’ll put them on the mother this evening. I just wanted to give her a break over the last couple of days for her to get her breath back.”
Tom checked on the mother at 1.30am on Sunday. He said: “I went out to the mother at that time and she seemed very peaceful. There was no sign in the world that anything was about to happen and I went away happy to leave her alone for the night.”
He explained that he she may be pregnant with twins, but was not ready for what he found when he checked back at 7 o’clock on Sunday morning.
“It was way out altogether,” he said. “There were two standing in front of her, one standing behind, and I was very happy at that stage and I then I heard another little ‘moo’ from what was the fourth near the gate. I couldn’t believe it.
“I have been farming since I was six years old and I never saw anything like it. What has happened is desperately unusual. This week has been one of the best weeks in my 70 years — there are enough down days on the farm.”
The calves, who have been named Rosie, Fluffie, Mia, and Jenny, weighed around 35kg each. Their mother is a nine-year-old Hereford cross, and their father a Charolais bull.
Tom described the mother as “incredible” after giving birth to the four without any help, and added that she is doing just fine.
He added that the four calves “will have a long life here in Maghera. They will be retained for breeding and will be here long after I am gone”.