EWE’S BEAUTIES
SURPRISE ALL ROUND AS SHEEP’S MILLION-TO-ONE CHANCE SEXTUPLET LAMBS ARRIVE EVERY 10 MINUTES
A YOUNG Gwynedd farmer watched in disbelief as one of her ewes delivered six lambs in around an hour.
Three were expected but the lambs just kept coming and, remarkably, the million-to-one brood are all doing well.
One was slow to get to her feet and she spent one night in front of the fire at Erin Fflur McNaught’s Pandy Farm, Rhos-y-Gwaliau, near Bala.
The ewe lamb was quick to recover and she rejoined her five siblings under a heat lamp at the 250-acre beef and sheep holding.
Erin, 20, a multiple sheepdog trails champion, is used to making news, having become one of Britain’s youngest farmers two years ago.
Now she’s worried she might be in for a repeat performance with one of her pregnant border collie bitches. “She’s also due soon - I hope she doesn’t throw out as many as the ewe did!” she chuckled.
The sextuplets were born to a Bluefaced Leicester ewe acquired by Erin last year for her six-strong pedigree flock.
The mum was scanned with triplets but Erin began to wonder when she missed her due date - by some margin.
Her other ewes lambed a month ago.
“She was a month over,” she said last week.
“I was a bit worried that one might have died inside her.
I’ve been keeping a close eye on her and yesterday evening she began delivering them.”
Erin continued: “The ewe was pretty good but there was a lot of fluid from the birth sacs, so I helped out by cleaning the lambs.
“Both the ewe and myself couldn’t quite believe it when six came out.
“When you have so many, there’s a worry the ewe won’t have enough food for them in her belly and that some of the lambs will be weak. Often, one will die.
“But these were all a decent size, about the same as for triplets, and they’re all doing well. I am so proud of her.”
Erin reckons the sextuplets include at least three males. But she’s not entirely sure.
“I lost count after a while!” she said.
First task was to ensure the sextuplets were warm and fed.
As all the ewe’s energy went into growing her lambs during pregnancy, she’s not producing much milk, so Erin is having to help with the colostrum.
All six are now under an infrared lamp in the farm’s lambing shed. “They don’t have much wool and some say Bluefaced Leicesters are a bit soft,” said Erin.
“That’s not true, they’re pretty strong, but they are still a little delicate, so they’ll stay inside for a while.”
In 2018, Erin was crowned the British Young Handler champion with her dog Moxy.
The following year she won the
BBC’s One Man and his Dog competition. And in 2021, at the tender age of 18, she became the fourth generation of her family to run Pandy Farm.
Now a Young Farmer Ambassador for the National Farmers Union, she’s currently preparing for this year’s sheepdog trails season. Looming large in the calendar is the Bala trial, location of the world’s first recorded sheepdog trial in 1873. Being its 150th anniversary this year,
winning there will carry extra prestige.
After her lengthy pregnancy, Erin’s sextuplet ewe is tired and is resting up before resuming mothering duties.
With more sheepdog pups on the way, it’s a luxury that Erin herself may have to forego for a while.