Ruby and her little quadruplet calves
A sensational birth with a happy ending
The story of Ruby the dairy cow and her four little offspring is something very special.
The chance of a cow giving birth to healthy quadruplets is 1 in 11 million. So when Ruby, a dairy cow from Styria, gave birth to four beautiful cow calves, it was a sensation! The surprised farmer’s family gave the calves pretty names: Reserl, Roserl, Renaterl and Roswitherl. Unfortunately, the four of them are a little small in stature and therefore not suitable for breeding. The family therefore pulled out all the stops to find a good place for their protégés. We were asked to take in the cow family and so the Aiderbichler animal rescuers travelled to Styria.
The trip went to Gut Aiderbichl Henndorf
It was important to Dieter Ehrengruber to be able to take in Ruby, the mother cow, in order to keep the animal family together. Nature would never separate mother animals from their young. No matter what kind of animal – foals, puppies or calves – Gut Aiderbichl always tries to get the mother animals too. It was a lovely gesture by the farmer to hand over Ruby together with her calves.
The animal keepers have their hands full
At first, we noticed that Ruby was a little too strict with her calves, as she had not yet learnt how to treat her children with such care on the dairy farm at home. We slowly got the family used to each other and it soon worked very well. Renaterl and Roswitherl, the two smaller calves, have learnt how to drink milk from mum Ruby’s udder thanks to the help of our animal keepers. Ruby is now also comfortable with this daily routine. The two larger calves, Reserl and Roserl, preferred to drink milk that had already been milked from the start. They get this in “their” green bucket, where they suck greedily from an attached teat. So feeding is already working very well and peace and harmony have returned to this special cow family.
The Aiderbichler pastures are the new playground for Ruby and her girls
What could be more peaceful than watching a herd of cows graze? The cows have no stress, plenty of exercise and enough fresh grass and hay to eat. Every now and then they head for their mum’s udder or the green bucket. They love both the sun and the shade – there is plenty of both here. The best picture is when Ruby and her four girls lie snuggled up together in the straw and relax or sleep. Sometimes a calf sticks its head through the fence and wants to stroke the hands of visitors: its tongue is soft and warm and the little ones then lick the human hands that carefully reach out to them.
The horns are allowed to grow
Ruby himself has no horns. Roserl, Reserl, Roswitherl and Renaterl already have horns under their fluffy fur. Many people are afraid of cattle horns. These are usually removed from animals in stables so as not to injure the animals standing close together and also to rule out any danger to humans. Cattle communicate via their horns and use them to orientate themselves. The horns are heavily supplied with blood up to the centre and this in turn is important for heat regulation in the cow’s body. Important hormones are produced in the horns and the horns are also very important for gas production during digestion.
So we wish Ruby and her quadruplets a happy, contented and long life at Gut Aiderbichl. All five are looking forward to your visit.
