High five: Local Farmer’s joy at rare quintuplet lambs

A CARRICKMORE farmer is delighted after one of his ewes safely delivered quintuplet lambs.

Gerard Monroe, a cattle and sheep farmer, recently returned home to find one of his ewes giving birth. He initially thought she had delivered three lambs but he got a shock when he discovered five new born lambs in the pen. The birth of quintuplets is extremely rare and a ‘once in a lifetime’ occasion.

The lambs and mother are all healthy and doing well since they were born last Monday evening.

Gerard told the UlsterHerald, “I checked on her when I came home last Monday and she already had three lambs.

“I went into the house for my dinner, and came out to find that she had given birth to five lambs.

“Multiple births of triplet lambs would be quite common, and the very odd time maybe four but I never had five before. She was able to lamb them all herself but it is not too often that five would be born.

“Thankfully they are doing well but I had put two of the lambs onto another ewe because the mother wouldn’t have enough milk for the five of them.”