AN ewe has defied odds of up to one in a million by giving birth to six lambs, which all arrived safely on Easter Monday.
The extremely rare births occurred just after mid-day at a farm at Rathnure, Co Wexford and shocked local farmer George Deacon who has never before experienced sextuplet lambs in over 70 years of farming.
The ewe was assisted in her birth by family friends who have stepped in to help George (78) on the farm while he fully recovers from a recent hip replacement operation.
“The ewe gave birth in a field but needed a bit of help as the lambs were all twisted inside her,” said neighbour and family friend Amanda Foley.
“She was scanned but we thought she was only having three so it was a huge shock to both us and George when six appeared. When we told George who was checking sheep in another field, he couldn’t believe it.
“The lambs are all perfect. We left three with the mum and adopted another onto a different ewe that lost her lamb the night before.
“We brought two home to bottle-feed and are hoping to adopt them onto other ewes in the coming days.
“George has 400 sheep to lamb as well as cattle and cows so we are glad to be able to help him out. He says he has never come across a ewe giving birth to six lambs before.”
Unfortunately as the ewe lambed, George was in another field tending to a lamb that was after being attacked by a fox.
“We have the lamb under a lamp trying to keep him alive at the minute but the next few days will tell.
“We are hoping for the best for the lamb that was attacked and as for the new sextuplets, we are just delighted to have witnessed such a special and magical birth.”
