Odds of one in a million have been beaten at a North Lakes farm where five lambs have been born to one ewe.
The rare arrival of quintuplets happened in the shadow of Skiddaw at Lake View Farm, Millbeck, near Keswick, at 6am on Sunday, March 21.
“I had to take a second look. I had just got out of bed,” said a shocked Rod Smith, who runs the farm with his wife Janice and 17-year-old son Edward.
“It’s the first set of quintuplets I’ve had in 60 years. We have had the odd four before but never five. The unique thing is that they have all survived,” he added.
The lambs were born to a Texel cross ewe that was expected to have four. It was her fourth crop of lambs and she has had triplets previously.
One of the batch was a runt which needed some special attention but is now healthy.
Once a lamb is born, it is important it gets on its feet quickly and latches to the ewe’s teat to get the colostrum (first milk), which is packed with nutrients and antibodies.
“You’ve heard the old saying: ‘You can’t beat your mother’s milk,’” said Rod, who was also able to get the lambs to suck the all-important colostrum from another ewe that had just given birth to one lamb.
“She would not have just stood there and allowed them to feed, so I tipped her over and Edward handed me the lambs so they also got a feed from this brand new tank,” said Rod, who tends to 250 acres of land and looks after 250 ewes – Texel cross and mules – and 60 beef cows and followers.
“It’s getting more common to get this bigger quantity of lambs.
“We are getting a lot of triplets and we have had three with four this year,” he added.
According to reports in the farming press, the chance of a ewe giving birth to quintuplets is a million to one and it is even rarer for them to be born alive and well.
“They are all up and running and following their mother,” said Rod.
“But we need a new home for some of them because they are about to go their separate ways, although some will continue to live with their mother. That is farming.
“We are looking out for donor mums (a ewe that has given birth to a stillborn lamb) but since this happened on Sunday we have not had any.”
Carl Hudspith, the NFU’s communications adviser for the North West, described the birth of quintuplet lambs as being “a very rare event.”
“We do have reports about it happening on a yearly basis from around the country,” he said. “It’s probably a yearly event but it’s not a common occurrence.”
