TRIPLET calves were born against odds of a million to one.

The calves saw the light of day at David Jackson's Sough Pit Farm, Guide, two weeks ago.

"The cow lay down and gave birth to the first one, then half an hour later out came the second. When she lay down again a few minutes later and started forcing, and the legs of the third started showing, I couldn't believe it," said farmer David, who was present throughout the delivery.

A spokesman for the British Limousin Cattle Society said triplet calves were very rare -- with the odds around a million to one.

All three Shorthorn crosses are in the best of health in their farm-side paddock, where David is keeping them with their mother so he can keep a close eye on them.

The calves, two heifers and a bull, will later join Sough Pit's 40-strong herd on the fellside fields behind the isolated farmhouse.

Miraculously, they are the second batch of calf triplets to be born in East Lancashire in the last three weeks -- a golden brown trio were born at a Longridge farm last month.

A spokeswoman for the Town and Country Veterinary Group in Blackburn -- which the Jackson farm uses -- explained that cows were not biologically suited to give birth to more than one offspring. There is not normally room for several embryos to develop.

"It's great. We're thrilled. It's extremely unusual," she said.

The births have come as a bright spot in the East Lancashire farming community in the grip of the foot and mouth crisis, with 23 cases in the Ribble Valley in the last three weeks.

David remains vigilant over his new charges. "I'm very proud of them, but foot and mouth can blow in on the wind.

"You just never know," he said.