EWE BEAUTY!
A FARMING family in the Enniscorthy area is celebrating this week after a ‘one-in-a-million’ event saw one of its ewes gave birth to six lambs.
The Rafter family, from Shroughmore, near Ballindaggin, were shocked to see the ewe give birth to the six lambs last Saturday week at around 10 a.m.
Speaking to this newspaper Thomas Rafter said the ewe had been scanned for four lambs and seeing the two extra lambs arriving was a massive but very welcome surprise.
‘We thought she was done when had the four but then another one came and then another one,’ said Thomas.
‘ They reckon it’s a one-in-a-million chance so we are very fortunate and it’s just great they’re all healthy and doing well and that’s the important thing,’ he added.
A farming family in the Enniscorthy area is celebrating this week after one of its ewes gave birth to six lambs representing a ‘one-in-a-million’ event.
The Rafter family, from Shroughmore, near Ballindaggin, were shocked to see the ewe give birth to the six lambs last Saturday week at around 10 a.m.
Speaking to this newspaper Thomas Rafter said the ewe had been scanned for four lambs and as a result the addition two extra lambs came as a great surprise.
‘It was a great surprise because it was unexpected,’ Thomas told this newspaper.
‘We thought she was done when had the four but then another one came and then another one,’ said Thomas.
‘ They’re all healthy and well too which is an even bigger bonus,’ he added.
The 5-year-old ewe is also doing well after her ordeal which was also very much welcomed by the family.
Thomas said there would ordinarily be a slight difference in the birth rate of lambs in mountainous areas compared to low-laying regions and that the birthrate normally would be in the region of 1.8 or 1.9 per yew which means that a flock of 100 ewes would have 190 lambs.
He also said that some breeds would be more prolific than others.
The ewe who gave birth to the six lambs is a Charolais Belclare that was crossed with a Suffolk ram.
Thomas has spent all his life farming and said that he and his wife, Bernie, were delighted that everything worked out as good as it did.
While many sheep farmers would regard a ewe giving birth to three of four healthy lambs as being a very positive event, a ewe having six lambs is widely regarded as a ‘one-in-a-million’ event, as was highlighted by Thomas.
‘ They reckon it’s a one-in-amillion chance so we are very fortunate and it’s just great they’re all healthy and doing well and that’s the important thing,’ he said.