<img src="http://www.joplinglobeonline.com/images/zope/new.gif" border=0> 7:50 a.m. Calf born with two heads lives a day and a half

February 27, 2009 09:16 am

— ALDRICH, Mo. (AP) — A southwest Missouri cattleman says he’s been delivering calves at his farm for a long time, but a calf born this week sure was different.
This one had two heads.
Scott Clift says he delivered the chocolate-colored male calf Wednesday morning at his farm near Aldrich, in Polk County. Clift said the calf had two fully-formed heads that appeared to be connected to its body just behind the skull.
Clift said late Thursday that the calf lived about a day and a half. It was unable to walk, so Clift and his family bottle-fed the animal until it died at 6 p.m. Clift said “We’ve never seen anything like it.”
Few people have, said University of Missouri Extension livestock specialist Eldon Cole. Such births do happen -- the condition is known as polycephaly -- but Cole says “They’re pretty darn rare.”