A Hauraki Plains dairy farmer received a huge surprise when one of his cows had an extremely rare calving of quadruplets, all of which are heifers.
How rare are quadruplets? According to DairyNZ, a cow has a one in 700,000 chance to have four calves at once. The odds of all being born alive and being healthy are even lower at one in every 11.2 million.
However, the chances of all four being heifer calves, according to US data, are one in every 179.2m.
To put that into context, the chances of winning the first division Lotto is one in 383,838.
The four healthy heifer calves were given colostrum and are doing well, while the cow spent the night after the birth in a barn and has been given a starter drench to help with its recovery.
