Two ewes had a large delivery of lambs on one sheep farm in Co. Mayo in the past week.
One ewe on the farm of Gerard Gibbons in Ballindine gave birth to quintuplets on Sunday, March 24, while another ewe had quadruplet lambs a few days earlier.
Gerard, along with his father Gerard and other family members, is lambing down about 285 ewes this season and this is the first time ever the farm has seen quintuplets being born.
Gerard told Agriland: “We had them scanned so we knew there were five and four.”
“She [the ewe who had quads] still has three on her and we had to put one on another ewe.”
He explained that of the five lambs born of another ewe, he “had to bring the smallest one into the house” to be given a little extra care, but sadly the little one did not make it and died today.
The farm has seen quadruplets born to ewes several times over the past few years, but the arrival of five lambs to one ewe this season was definitely an unusual event.
Gerard explained that they have a short breeding lead-in: “We do a short period. [The ewes] are only five weeks out with the ram.”
The Gibbons farm also has “a few cows too” and Gerard also keeps his hands full with rearing calves.
Gerard explained that lambing season is underway about two weeks on the Ballindine farm and there are about 130 ewes left to lamb down scanned with triplets, twins and singles.
While Gerard also works off farm, the addition of technology such as cameras in the yard has helped the effort to keep track of the ewes in lamb.
There is a mixture of breeds on the farm with the majority sold off as stores, and Gerard senior said one of the most popular breeds in the flock are the Bluefaced Leicester mix.