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Premature Mesa calves are beating the odds
Twin baby calves who are the size of cats are beating the odds by simply staying alive. The two were born prematurely in Mesa, but they are making progress day-by-day. FOX 10's Taylor Wirtz has more.
MESA, Ariz. - Two twin baby calves who are the size of cats are beating the odds by simply staying alive.
The two, named Cleo and Clover, were born seven weeks premature at a farm in Mesa, and their owner said they weigh about 30 pounds each. Nevertheless, the two are making progress day by day.
The backstory:
"[I was] doing my normal morning chores, and my son calls me and says, 'We have a calf,'" said Jamie Brotemarkle, owner of J & B Family Farms. "Then he’s texting me that there was two."
Brotemarkle said they didn't expect Cleo and Clover to survive.
"A singleton really has a very, very low chance of making it that early, so when you add twins to the mix, it just takes that down even further," she said.
However, Brotemarkle and her family weren’t going to give up on them easily.
"It's like you're giving up," Brotemarkle said. "The next three days of your life is going to be constantly just doing everything you can to keep something else alive, and I really didn't think it was going to happen."
Nine days later, the girls are frolicking around the yard like puppies, guzzling bottles, taking long naps and stealing hearts.
"It's the first thing. I run back out to the playpen and my gosh, they're still here," Brotemarkle said. "I cannot believe that we made it through another night. And when we hit that week mark, it was like, ‘OK, they're going to make it. There's no way that they can't make it.’"
What She's Saying:
Brotemarkle says every day with them brings a new treat.
"We put her out there, and she took three little teeny, tiny steps with all her little ribs showing and her legs bowing out. I think it brought all of us to tears," she said. "She took three steps and fell, and that was enough to know that she was going to make it."
We asked Brotemarkle what this has taught her.
"That miracles exist, that you can look at something and know that it has no chance. There's zero chance," she said. "And as long as you're willing and they're willing, you give everything and they give everything, you can have the best outcome."
What's next:
The Brotemarkle family says they can’t keep every animal born here at the farm, but Cleo and Clover have already moved their way into their hearts, and probably won’t be going anywhere.