On their property, Chuck and Deb Beldo saw a unique miracle. The likelihood of this occurring is actually only one in 11.2 million. It gives the expression “holy cow” a completely new meaning.
On their farm in Sebeka, Minnesota, Chuck and Deb Beldo were ecstatic to see an extremely uncommon occurrence: a cow giving birth. It is so uncommon that it only occurs once per 11.2 million births. Deb remarked, “I’ve lived around cows my entire life, and I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
Everything started when one of the Beldos’ cows got pregnant. Her two previous pregnancies ended in healthy, single calves, therefore this was her third pregnancy. It did appear as though the mother cow’s pregnancy and delivery would go according to plan.
But Chuck and Deb soon found out that there might be more than one calf inside the mother cow. They were aware that there was a possibility she would give birth to twins, but nothing they could have imagined could have prepared them for the reality, according to The Sacramento Bee.
Chuck watched as Deb continued to hold up fingers for every newborn that she observed while the cow was in delivery. First one, then two, then three, and finally four fingers, indicating that their cow, the Beldos’, had just given birth to quadruplets—a uncommon miracle on their farm.
Chuck Beldo witnessed his wife Deb continually pointing to a newborn calf whenever she spotted one. (Image courtesy of screen capture)
“Mom had observed her size but didn’t give it much thought. Twins are not that uncommon, Jamie Belz, the Beldos’ daughter, said to Minnesota Public Radio. “They actually had a set of twins earlier this year, but sadly, they arrived during our unusually cold April and didn’t survive.”
Chuck and Deb realized they had their work cut out for them once reality kicked in. Their cow giving birth to several calves was one thing, but it would be quite another to actually keep all of those newborns alive.
Veterinary Obstetrics and Genital Diseases textbook states that a cow’s chances of giving birth to quadruplet calves are 1 in 700,000. There is just a 1 in 11.2 million chance that all four will be born alive and survive. This week in Minneapolis, he told WCCO, “I think we are going to make it now.” “I wouldn’t have put a dime on it a week ago.”
