A ewe in South Australia has given birth to extremely rare litter of sextuplet lambs.
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.
“It’s not something you see every day.”
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.”
Three lambs were given to Orphan Lamb Rescue Farm for care.(Supplied: Rebecca Alexander)
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.
Tiny lambs getting stronger
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.”
The three lambs delivered to Orphan Lamb Rescue Farm have required around-the-clock care by volunteers.(Supplied: Rebecca Alexander)
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.
The lambs were only around a quarter of the average weight of a newborn lamb.(Supplied: Rebecca Alexander)
“[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.
Brad Shepard has just six sheep on his hobby farm.(ABC South East SA: Elsie Adamo)
“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.
“It is very, very rare.”
According to Dr Reid, there is no process that helps make ewes super-fertile, and the multiple births are just a “lucky” occurrence.
The lambs are doing well so far, but it will be a while before they are in a stable condition.(Supplied: Rebecca Alexander)
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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