This is a subscriber-only article
Alison Fullam Gogan from the Boyne valley in Co Meath got a surprise on Wednesday 11 December when one of her flock lambed quintuplets. The family owns three pedigree flocks and together with commercial ewes, they own 200 sheep.
Alison owns a flock of pedigree Jacobs sheep, while her son Sam owns a flock of Dorsett sheep and her husband owns a flock of pedigree Belclares. The lambs are now a Jacobs/Dorsett cross.
We just had her down as a ‘heavy sheep’, so we were delighted with the five
“We had the ewe scanned a bit late, so we couldn’t tell that there were five lambs,” explained Alison.
“We just had her down as a ‘heavy sheep’, so we were delighted with the five”.
Alison runs a craft shop where she spins wool from the sheep and uses the Jacob wool for its natural colouring and softness.
Champion
The quintuplets were lambed to a Dorsett champion show ewe, winning her class at both Mullingar and Tullamore. The ram has had a champion and reserve champion ewe and lamb showing at Tullamore. There were three females and two male lambs born. The ewe lambed naturally and she is feeding two, while Alison's family will bottle-feed the other three lambs.
“We have never had quintuplets before, so we are happy with them,” said Alison. The rest of the flock are due to lamb in Janurary.
SHARING OPTIONS: