A rare phenomenon occurred early Wednesday morning last week on the farm Dewdrop belonging to Gerrie Roos in the Heilbron district in the Free State when a calf with two heads was born.
By Johan Norval, senior journalist at African Farming and Landbouweekblad
Gerrie says the cow, a commercial Bonsmara, started calving in the field, but because it was a difficult birth, she was transported to the stable where the calf was pulled.
He says the cow went through the whole gestation period of nine months, and the calf, a heifer, was born alive. However, she died shortly afterwards. “The calf’s body development was normal, but where the neck attached to the trunk, a second neck and head had developed.”
Gerrie has been in the beef cattle industry for decades and has never encountered a case like this. His beef cattle operation primarily consists of Beefmasters, but he also maintains a herd of commercial Bonsmara cattle for crossbred calf production. The sire of the two-headed calf is a Simbra.
Two-headed Animals Not Entirely Unusual
Dr Johan van Rooyen, a veterinarian in Steynsburg, says this phenomenon is not entirely unusual. He has encountered it five or six times among cattle and sheep. He has even seen a foal with two heads. He explains that it happens when an embryo divides to create identical twins, but something goes wrong if the division is not complete. In humans, this results in conjoined (Siamese) twins. In animals, it can cause the development of two heads on one body or the duplication of limbs. “A livestock farmer may sometimes experience such cases in a lifetime.”
