‘What’s going on here’: Curlewis farmers’ shock over six-legged calf

A calf’s additional limbs in an unusual place has shocked the farming community. Here’s how they helped the young animal.

A Curlewis calf born with six legs has defied the odds by reaching its three week milestone.

The unusual calf was born with the two extra legs growing out of its forehead, even catching farmer Doug Pohl by surprise.

“I have never seen anything like this before and I’ve been on the farm my whole life,” he said.

Calf with extra legs

“I check on the cows twice a day when I know they are close to calving, so I went over there in the morning and I thought ‘what’s going on here?’.

“I rang the vet to see what he suggested and I was preparing for the news he would have to put down, but when I went back at night-time he was suckling from his mother with two legs hanging down the side of his face, like nothing had happened.”

The surgery to remove the additional limbs was performed last Friday out of a trailer on Mr Pohl’s farm.

“It is a strong little bugger,” he said.

Dr James Vanner, owner and director of the Geelong Veterinary Hospital, was equally as surprised by the top heavy calf, having never seen anything like it in his 35 years in practice.

“We went and examined the calf and we could feel there were no boning attachments to the skull and there were no defects in the skull, so we were quite comfortable in removing the legs,” he said.

Vet Dr james Vanner operates on a Curlewis calf born with two extra legs growing from its head. Picture: Geelong Veterinary Hospital

“It was basically skin and cartilage we had to resect to remove the legs.”

Dr Vanner said despite its odd start to life, the calf should not suffer any further complications.

“It is a bit of bad luck, it happens during the development when some primary germ cells or stem cells go astray within the embryo and can lead to the development of abnormal structures anywhere in the body,” he said.

“We did the surgery a week ago and the calf is now thriving, but we did give it a hell of haircut.”

Originally published as ‘What’s going on here’: Curlewis farmers’ shock over six-legged calf