Chuck and Deb Beldo witnessed a rare miracle on their farm. In fact, the odds of this happening are just one in 11.2 million. It gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “holy cow.”
Chuck and Deb Beldo welcomed a truly rare phenomenon when a cow went into labor on their farm in Sebeka, Minnesota. So rare, in fact, that it only ever happens once in every 11.2 million births. “I’ve been around cows my whole life, and I’ve never seen anything like it before,” said Deb.
It all began when one of the cows on the Beldos’ farm became pregnant. It was her third pregnancy, and her previous two births were to single healthy calves. Indeed, everything looked as though the mother cow’s pregnancy and birth would be completely normal.
Deb Beldo (Photo Credit: Screen Capture)
However, Chuck and Deb soon discovered that the mother cow might be carrying more than one calf. They knew there was a chance that she would have twins, but, as The Sacramento Bee reports, nothing in their wildest dreams could have prepared them for the truth.
When the cow was in labor, Chuck watched as Deb kept holding up fingers for each newborn baby she saw. First one, then two, then three, and then four fingers signifying that a rare miracle had just transpired on their farm: The Beldos’ cow had given birth to quadruplets.
Chuck Beldo watched as his wife Deb kept holding up fingers for each newborn calf she saw. (Photo Credit: Screen Capture)
“Mom had noticed she was large but didn’t think too much of it. Twins are fairly common,” the Beldos’ daughter, Jamie Belz, told Minnesota Public Radio. “Actually, they had a set of twins born earlier this year, but unfortunately they came during the crazy cold weather we had in April and they didn’t make it.”
Once the reality set in, Chuck and Deb knew that they had their work cut out for them. It was one thing for their cow to give birth to multiple calves, but to actually keep all of those babies alive would be another battle entirely.
According to the textbook “Veterinary Obstetrics and Genital Diseases,” the odds of a cow having quadruplet calves are 1 in 700,000. The odds of all four being born alive and surviving afterward are just 1 in 11.2 million. “I think we are going to make it now,” he told WCCO in Minneapolis this week. “A week ago, I wouldn’t have bet a dime on it.”