5-Legged Calf a Big Surprise One cow. Two calves. Nine legs.
That's what Houston Peek discovered last week when one of his pregnant cows gave birth. It was rare enough for a twin birth, but one of the two males calved to the same cow last Wednesday was born with a leg up on his twin brother – literally.
Peek has been raising cattle in Crittenden County since 1969 and has never seen anything like what he saw last Wednesday when a fifth leg was counted on one of his newest calves. Now a week old, the five-legged cow is hopping around like a dozen other calves on the Caldwell Springs farm.
"It's not an every-day thing," Peek said of the five legs.
The extra appendage doesn't touch the ground, however, instead jutting strangely from between the shoulder blades, drooping to the side of the calf’s back.
"He doesn't act a bit like it bothers him," Peek said.
Twins occur in only one percent or so of cattle births, according to Dr. James Davis, Department Head of Animal and Equine Science at Murray State University. Genetic anomalies in cattle are much more rare.
"It's the first I've heard of one like this," Davis said last week, the day after the birth. "It's extremely rare... maybe one in 100 million."
Davis said the deformity is a result of gene mutations during gestation, which is nine months in cattle. Mutations can occur due to carcinogens, pathogens or chemicals ingested by the cow during or before pregnancy. They, too, can just be a result of Mother Nature's mix-up in genetic replication during early embryonic stages.
"It's very common in poultry or pigs, simply because they give birth to more offspring," Davis said, adding that a cow generally calves only once a year. "Two years ago, however, I did see a cow born without a tail."
Peek said his five-legged calf and its brother are doing just fine, though both, along with their mother, have been separated from the rest of his 33 head of cattle.
The abnormality is not likely a result of anything harmful, Davis said, since both of the black calves seem to be doing well. The mother and father, Peek's lone black angus bull, are also healthy.
Peek, who runs the farm with his son, Brad, said the cow had the mutated calf with her when it was discovered last week. Since twins are so rare, the eldest Peek said cows often will forget they have had twins, neglecting one of the calves. That's why the Peeks are keeping a closer eye on the special set. They have done this before, in the only other season the herd gave birth to twins. That time, four sets were born.
For now, Houston plans to leave the extra leg attached to the calf. He fears removing it could do more harm than good, since the baby seems unbothered by the limb.
"I don't see it's going to hurt anything," he said.
While the mutation will probably lower the calf's value, it would probably cost more to remove the leg than could be recouped at auction, Peek said.