-Submitted photo
Good things coming in threes extends to Twyla Godbersen's lineage as well. Twyla, her grandmother and daughter all have Virginia as part of their name, and all graduated from Morningside College in Sioux City. Pictured her are Leah and Twyla Godbersen with their diplomas.

ARTHUR — The Godbersen trio of men are proof that good things can come in threes.

Robert, 73, Bryce, 44, and Brecken, 11, represent three generations of Godbersen cattlemen; Bryce’s first 4-H show calves were Polled Herefords in 1989 when he was just 10 years old, and this began their Hereford herd.

All three men display top-notch work-ethic at Godbersen Herefords, tending to cows and their calves. All three also experienced something that had never happened on their 97-year-old farm: Polled Hereford Triplets — another gift of three.

As if the number three wasn’t already a key part of this story — their birthdate was March 13 of 2023.

Robert, with his wife Twyla, have been married 46 years and live on the farm located to the northeast of Arthur. Their son Bryce and grandson Brecken are involved in their farming operation as is their daughter Leah, 41. Robert’s handwritten note states that the triplets are comprised of a boy with white front legs weighing 67 pounds, a girl with one red eye — good for keeping flies away — at 53 pounds, and another boy with a white spot on his back at 65 pounds. The weights were noted two days after their birth on March 15.

-Submitted photo
Lester McQuigg, left, and Clifford McQuigg, show cattle at the Iowa State Fair in the 1930s. Clifford is Twyla Godbersen's father, and both have a background rich in raising cattle.

Reproduction experts estimate triplets happen in roughly one in 100,000 births. This trio is even more special in that all were born healthy and without any intervention — save bottle feeding — from the Godbersens.

The triplets’ mom is a tough girl from Wyoming and, within five hours, delivered her triplets.

“Mom is a big cow, but we have a lot of big cows,” said Robert Godbersen. “There was no way we could have known she was going to have triplets. The first one came at 3 p.m., and we thought we were done. Leah came into the house at 4 p.m. and told us we had a second calf.

‘Well,’ I thought, ‘we have twins,’ which isn’t all that uncommon. Then, at 8 p.m. — four hours later — Leah told us we had triplets.

“I’ve preferred Herefords because they are so quiet. Mom was certainly quiet about having a third come along.”

-Farm News photo by Doug Clough
Robert, Bryce, and Brecken Godbersen of Godbersen Herefords proudly display their triplets born on March 13, 2023. All three went to full term and were at healthy birth weights.

The Godbersens specialize in Polled Herefords, naturally hornless cattle which were developed by Des Moines lawyer William Gammon after he saw the breed in Omaha in 1898. The Gammon Barn Museum, which is the birthplace of Polled Herefords, is now located on the Iowa State Fairgrounds. Robert and Twyla volunteer as guides one day of the fair each year.

The Godbersens have 50 head of cattle between Robert’s farm place and Bryce’s.

“It amazes me that these three went to full-term,” said Twyla Godbersen. “I would have thought we’d have had preemies. We’re not the biggest farmers, but we’ve had 15 births recently.”

The Godbersens still use their traditional barn and another outbuilding to house their cows and calves. Square hay bales are stored in the haymow. There is evidence of milking stanchions and five wooden headgates from years gone by.

“Getting those square bales up to the haymow is work,” said Robert Godbersen. “Nobody wants to do that anymore.”

A white board on the wall keeps track of the heifers, the number of calves — heifers or bulls, and the date they were born. There is also an incubator close by for preemie births, which “has saved quite a few and paid for itself time and again.”

All the feeding is done by hand in both the main barn and calving barn as is the cleaning. The Godbersens also crop farm with 200 acres of land, a portion of it going to pasture.

The farm was handed down through the generations through Robert’s side of the family.

Twyla’s grandfather, Joseph Young Trimble, traveled to the U.S. from Ireland in 1915 at 19 years of age, working for farmers in Arthur, Schaller, and the Silver Creek Township. Joseph married Virginia Maude Fair in 1917, and they established their home on the Fair home farm; they were parents of two children, one being Mildred Virginia in 1919. Mildred Virginia married Clifford L. McQuigg in 1943; they had four daughters, one being Twyla Virginia. Twyla married Robert Godbersen in1976; they have two children, Bryce and Leah Virginia. If you haven’t been counting, that’s four “Virginias.”

Good things coming in threes is not purely relegated to the Godbersen men. Three of the “Virginias” are Sioux City Morningside College graduates: Virginia Maude in 1905 MDCCCCV (her diploma is handwritten on sheepskin), Twyla Virginia in 1973, and Leah Virginia in 2003.

Mildred Virginia, Twyla’s mother, broke the mold by graduating from Storm Lake’s Buena Vista College. “Our family’s uniqueness seems to be based on threes,” stated Twyla Godbersen. “We’re fortunate that, for us, they are all good things.”