Home | News | COW GIVES BIRTH TO 2-HEADED CALF

COW GIVES BIRTH TO 2-HEADED CALF

03/04/2017 07:31:00 BY ANDILE NSIBANDE

Font size:

The calf that was born with two heads.

QOMINTABA – A former legislator and livestock farmer was expecting a new addition to his herd of cattle but he got more than he had bargained for on Friday.

Seth Gumbi of Qomintaba area was shocked out of his wits when his cow gave birth to a two-headed calf. The 63-year-old Gumbi, who has been rearing cattle for the whole of his life said he had never seen anything like that before. Soon after the rare sight, Gumbi said he called the local veterinary officer who was equally puzzled.

“He didn’t have an explanation for the rare occurrence. He only said it was unusual,” said Gumbi.
The farmer disclosed that the calf was conceived naturally through one of his bulls. He said the cow was also normal during its gestation period.
Gumbi mentioned that the family had been expecting the cow to give birth and on Friday evening it showed signs that it was about to give birth.
Somehow, he said, he noticed that the cow was having difficulties so they moved closer to assist.

“The calf was abnormally big. We pulled it out and got the shock of our lives when we realised it had two heads,” he said. He said it also had two set of eyes, ears and a full set of teeth.
“I called the veterinary officer and he also said nothing like that had ever happened in his life.”
Gumbi said the calf seemed not to be doing well health wise.

He said it appeared weak and that he tried to bottle-feed it, hoping it would pull through and get up on its feet, but it wasn’t promising.
The farmer continued to monitor the calf’s condition until he later decided to kill it on the following day. He said in order to avoid a situation where people would help themselves to its meat he decided to burn the calf. He then buried the burnt carcass.

The former legislator, who was in Parliament from 1993 to 2008, said he considered the birth of the calf a bad omen, which is why he didn’t want people to feed on its meat. Even though the farmer tried to monitor the condition of the cow for a while, he admitted that he felt insecure living with the unusual creature at his homestead.