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A Belclare ewe in Teagasc Athenry has just given birth to a set of sextuplets for the second year running.
The lambs were split evenly between three males and three females, and weighed between 2.7kg and 4.7kg each, with two of the lambs weighing less than 3kg.
However, Teagasc technician Henry Walsh said that all the lambs were healthy and doing well.
“It’s very rare,” Henry said.
“You’re talking nearly 20kg of live kilos, which is huge for a ewe.”
She was straw-bedded, given plenty of room to exercise and put on concentrates
“She was scanned with having five lambs so I didn’t expect her to have six.
“The Belclare are a prolific breed and normally have about 2.2 lambs on average but she’s produced 20 lambs in her last four seasons.”
Last year, all the sextuplets presented normally and were born facing the correct way, but this year Henry said that all the lambs came backwards.
Despite this, all the lambs are doing well and thriving.
“The ewe got preferential treatment when she was scanned,” Henry explained.
“She was straw-bedded, given plenty of room to exercise and put on concentrates nine weeks before lambing.”
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