23 May 2024
By: Sarie Marais-Nell
A trio of Senepol heifers on the Rustenburg farm outside Malmesbury is turning heads. And if neighbouring farmers want the recipe for this rare phenomenon, owner Wilhelm Dreyer wittily suggests they should come and get some of Rustenburg’s water.
When Dreyer arrived at the cow camp early on Saturday, 11 May, and saw three calves had been born overnight, he walked among the other seven cows in the camp with the big question: Did another cow perhaps also calve during the night?
“One wants to be 100% sure before announcing the news of triplets to the world,” he says. “I had to make sure it was indeed one cow’s triplets. It is very special because when I saw them that morning, the mother had already cleaned and cared for all three calves herself.”

Rustenburg has had twin calves before but never triplets. To ensure all three red heifers with their polled heads get enough nutrition, they are receiving daily bottle feeding – a mixture of powdered milk with an egg yolk mixed in. Two are eager bottle drinkers but the third is reluctant. “Maybe she’s getting enough from her mother,” Dreyer suspects. “The triplets’ mother was born in 2020 and delivered a single heifer last year.”
Dreyer, who leases part of his farm as cropland, focuses on white and red wine grapes and his Sussex beef cattle. When he saw Senepol cattle six years ago at a Nampo show, he started inquiring about this red breed with its smooth, thick skin and polled head.
“I was referred to Pieter van Wyk of Riversdale, one of the Western Cape’s largest Senepol breeders. I bought a bull and a few heifers from him. Although I still concentrate on Sussex, I have since kept a few Senepols as a hobby.”
