On the face of it, a beef cow that gives birth to twins is providing a bonus. When one calf per cow is the norm, a cow that has twins is a two-fer.

But most producers see it differently, acknowledges Brian Kirkpatrick, UW-Madison professor of animal science.

“Some problems come along with twinning,” Kirkpatrick says. “You’re more likely to lose the pregnancy, you’re more likely to lose twins at birth, you’re more likely to have problems with malpresentation at birth, and beef producers talk about issues getting a cow to take care of two calves and with labor concerns.”

But while he gets these concerns, Kirkpatrick is confident that in the not-so-distant-future, the industry will see benefits from his long-running research into the genetics and management of beef cattle twining. He believes that successful twinning in the beef business could become a boon to increased efficiency, and in the face of a declining national beef herd, could help increase numbers of marketable cattle.

Kirkpatrick has isolated a genotype that regulates ovulation rate—the number of potential embryos being produced by a cow.

“In the case that we’re working with right now, we have a single gene that has a very large affect on ovulation rate,” he says. “We have mapped that gene to a narrow area though we still haven’t figured out what the gene is that’s causing that effect. Hopefully, in the near future, we’ll figure that out. We have identified genetic markers that can be used to track inheritance of the gene.”

Kirkpatrick’s team is also is working to understand
the many complexities related to twin births to be able to help producers capture the efficiencies of cattle having two calves per year. The study will begin to sort through information about which cows maintain pregnancies, calving ease, calf survivability and the genetic markers associated with positive economic outcomes.

“Along the way, there’s a good chance we’ll uncover other important information that’ll be useful and interesting for the beef business,” Kirkpatrick says.

“My hope is that in another ten years we’ll have some basic information about genetics that relate to success in carrying twins to term so that, for the beef cattle industry, the twinning would not be viewed as a negative but as something that would be a positive,” he adds.

For more information contact: Brian Kirkpatrick, bwkirkpa@wisc.edu Phone (608) 263-4323, (608) 263-4319