Longford Farming: It's the lambtastic four
The four of the fluffy little creatures have survived and are making healthy progress
Ewe are not going to believe this story from Granard, but a sheep in North Longford gave birth to four lambs. The arrival of the lambtastic four is an unusual feat for the farm animal.
All four of the fluffy little creatures have survived and are making healthy progress. This quadruplet birth for sheep is a rare occurrence. Of the three million lambs born in any given year in Ireland less than a half of a percent will arrive as part of a four lamb crew.
This wolly surprising arrival happened on the farm of John and Helen Kiernan, Springlawn House, Granard.
The four lambs were delivered with a little help from vet Jenny Maloney of Murphy & Leslie Veterinary Centre in Granard at the end of February.
“This is quite unusual,” John told the Leader of his recent livestock additions, “They are almost three weeks old, we wanted to make sure they were thriving before we started telling people about it.”
The ewe that yeaned the quartet is a three-year-old Texel breed: “I kind of expected her to have three. I brought her to the vet because the first one was presenting wrong.”
John's is not what you would call a vast herd: “I only have four sheep,” he said, “I saw four born together many years ago. I was talking to people who have large herds and they say they have never seen them in their lifetime.”
The four lambs are in sheep shape and prancing around with a spring in their step.