Armidale 'supercow' dubbed ultimate breeder with fourth sets of twins

The Angus cow, tracing back to Charolais breeding, was one of about nine head that Arthur and Joan Gates retained and hand fed hay and cotton seed through recent drought on their property Heatherston.

"Many people here sold anything they had but we wanted to keep a core group until we finished up," Mrs Gates said.

Two weeks ago the 2011-born female cemented herself as a super cow after having her fourth pair of twins, all of which have been same sex.

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First calved as a two-year-old she has also had four single births and reared all 12 of her calves to maintain a herd average weight at sale time.

Mrs Gates said they believed older cows would cope better in the drought and super cow had earned her right as a keeper.

But she had surprised them.

As the pair are reaching the end of their farming career having bred cattle and sheep for more than 50 years, Mrs Gates believed the super cow would outlast them.

"We are in our mid 80s and we think we might have to give her to someone because she is just going to keep breeding," she said.

"I don't want to send her to the meatworks. I want to see how many more calves she will have. She looks a million dollars now, not like she has had 12 calves.

"We have had twin calves before but never had a cow like this. "

All of the calves were the result of natural joinings.