Brad Shephard and Shannon Fowler with children Nate and Mila on their property with the mother ewe and two of her lambs.(ABC South East SA: Elsie Adamo)
AceBreakingNews – Awe in South Australia has given birth to an extremely rare litter of sextuplet lambs.xx
Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Mar.28: 2024: ABC Environment News: TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/+PuI36tlDsM7GpOJe
Hobby farmer Brad Shephard was expecting to find some lambs on his property in Koorine, but not quite so many. “ I walked out and saw six of them sprawled out across the ground,” Mr Shephard said. “ I have had sheep in the past and never had anything like this, I’m still quite shocked.
Brad Shephard and Shannon Fowler with children Nate and Mila on their property with the mother ewe and two of her lambs.(ABC South East SA: Elsie Adamo)
The family has kept crossbred merino lambs on their farm for the past two years.
While one of the lambs was sadly stillborn, the other five are alive. Three have been given to the nearby Orphan Lamb Rescue Farm to be cared for. “ They were [all five lambs] a bit too much for us to take on all at once,” Mr Shephard said. “ The mother, as you can imagine, was quite exhausted. She was lying on the ground.”
Tiny lambs getting stronger
He said the ewe would now have a happy retirement to the back paddock. “ I think she needs a bit of a break after that,” Mr Shephard said. Orphan Lamb Rescue Farm founder Rebecca Alexander has taken three of the lambs that were in poor health after the birth. “ They’ve come into us so they can have some specialised care,” Ms Alexander said. “ Two of them were very, very cold … they needed to be under heat, warmed up, before they could even be fed.”
But she said the condition of the lambs was improving.
“They’ve all had a good appetite. Now they’re up and walking around,” Ms Alexander said. “ They’re obviously still not out of the woods, they’re very tiny.” Currently, the lambs weigh 1.3 kilograms, 1.5kg and 2kg, far less than the average lamb birth weight of about 4kg. “ We do put coats on them just for a bit of extra warmth,” Ms Alexander said. “[That] keeps their body and kidneys warm since they don’t have Mum to snuggle up to.” While Ms Alexander has encountered multiple lamb births before, hearing about six lambs in one birth was a first. “[There’s been] twins, triplets and occasional quads that we’ve had come in, but definitely not six,” she said.
‘Amazing feat’
So just how rare is a six-lamb birth? Millicent veterinarian Amelia Reid described it as an incredibly lucky event, especially with so many of the lambs surviving.
“ Having triplets is quite common, but anything over that is an amazing feat,” Dr Reid said.
“I’ve never seen it occur in the area, not where I’ve previously worked before. According to Dr Reid, there is no process that helps make ewes super-fertile, and the multiple births are just a “lucky” occurrence.
Dr Reid said she would not expect any lasting impacts from the birth if the lambs were well taken care of.
“She’s [the mother ewe] just going to need to have some good nutrition and a lot of love and a lot of care … she certainly has her work cut out for her,” Dr Reid said. “ The lambs should be absolutely fine and go on to live happy lives.”
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