It started as a joke on the farm, then it actually happened.

A 13-year-old girl from near Baschurch in Shropshire has seen one of her cows give birth to triplets, an event the National Farmers’ Union estimates has odds of about one in 100,000.

Sophie said it was “amazing” to see five-year-old mum Lucky Lady give birth to the three calves, which she has named Tia, Tilly and Tiffany.

Cows usually bear one calf at a time after a nine-month pregnancy.

“I grew up on a farm, so we’ve always had cows,” Sophie said. “I [have] had my own since I was six months old, so it started from there really.

“The vet said she was carrying twins [so] we didn’t know she was having triplets until the morning we found out.”

“I couldn’t believe it because we’d always joked that she was having three, but we didn’t imagine it could actually happen,” she said.

The calves were named on the morning they were born. Sophie said that because they were a pedigree breed, their names had to begin with the same letter, in this case “T”.

She said Lucky Lady was doing well.

“I’ve been at school as well which hasn’t helped, because I haven’t been able to spend loads of time with them,” Sophie said.

It is the second time in Shropshire within months that a cow has had triplets.

James Chatham, who farms near Shifnal, had the same experience in May, when one of his cows also gave birth to triplets.

At the time, Shropshire’s NFU adviser Ed Garratt said: “Triplets are significantly rarer than twins in dairy and beef herds.”

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