Against The Odds: Minnesota Cow Gives Birth To Quadruplets

SEBEKA, Minn. (WCCO) -- One Cow. Four calves. A northern Minnesota family had a rare occurrence on the farm.

On May 24, Chuck and Deb Beldo, of Sebeka, won the bovine lottery.

"I've been around cows my whole life, and I've never seen anything like it before," Deb Beldo said.

Experts say the odds of a cow having quadruplets is one in 700,000.

But the odds of keeping all four alive are even greater -- one in 11.2 million.

"I think we are going to make it now," Chuck Beldo said. "A week ago, I wouldn't have bet a dime on it."

The cow that gave birth to the quadruplets had been a mother before. But the first two times she gave birth, it was to single calves.

With two new male calves and two new female calves, the Beldos have had to carry the weight.

They've been bottle-feeding the calves about every four hours.

But they've also been able to run with this rarity, posting pictures of the quadruplets on Facebook.

"I believe there has been, as of today, 80,000 some shares from around the world, which is kind of neat," Deb Beldo said.

And a common reaction is simply "holy cow."

"They're doing really good. It's amazing," Chuck Beldo said.

The Beldos say that they recently had bottle holders installed so they won't have to handhold the calves anymore.