Rare Five Lamb Birth Celebrated

Article by: Hari Yellina

It’s a baa-ing feast for Leanne and John McAlpine’s farm near York, where a rare five lamb ‘flock’ has taken up residence in their home paddock. The family’s five children were overjoyed when a quintuplet was born unexpectedly on Tuesday last week, with the baby lambs surviving thus far despite the odds. While twin lambs are common and triplets are not uncommon, having five lambs born alive and surviving is said to be a “one in a million” possibility. Their specially bred Dorper ram, who managed to sneak into the ewe flock a little earlier than expected and has produced roughly 70% twin progeny, has certainly earned credit. Ms McAlpine remarked, “I’ve never seen quintuplet lambs before.”

“I looked it up on the internet and discovered a couple articles claiming it was a one in a million probability – so that’s incredible. “We’ve been keeping an eye on them to make sure they’re okay, and she’s feeding them, so we’ll see what happens.” Every year, the pair breeds lambs from roughly 150 ewes on their 56-hectare farm in St Ronan. The flock is 90% Dorpers, with the exception of the quins’ mother, who is one of a few Merino ewes on the ranch. “Ms McApline explained, “I have some old pet Merinos and that is where she came from.” “’We need to get rid of the Merinos,’ John says, and I answer, ‘no, you don’t.’ “I couldn’t get rid of my pets.”

Ms McAlpine said the huge number of multiple births this year was unexpected because they didn’t check their pregnant ewes. The couple’s children, aged 6 to 13, are particularly fond of the quins due to the overabundance of cuteness. Ms McAlpine said the ram’s eagerness to get over the fence meant lambing had occurred a couple of months earlier than they had anticipated, but that the quantity of offspring he had produced had won them over. “This is the first time we’ve used a different ram, and all the sheep are having twins – it’s ridiculous,” Ms McAlpine said. “Then, when we got to five, amazing.”