Rare quintuplet lambs surprise local farmer
By Nicholas Allen - for the Lethbridge Herald on May 13, 2022.
A farm on the west side of Lethbridge had a sheep give birth to five lambs on May 5.Farmer Ken Leenstra found them on his Westside Drive farm and said he was shocked when he saw how many there were.
“First, we saw four and it was like, what the heck? Four babies? And then I came back later and then I found the other one and it was just like, what is going on here? It’s just wild,” explained Leenstra.
Leenstra said they only got the sheep last year because of the pandemic, and the ewe with quintuplets only had one baby.
“We had nothing else to do so we thought we would get sheep. Actually, last year the most we had was two,” said Leenstra.
He said they had to step in supplementing them a little bit with milk to ensure they stayed healthy.
“They only have two nipples, so it’s pretty hard for five guys to get in there,” said Leenstra.
Leenstra said that all of the lambs are “good and healthy” after their first week.
“It’s actually quite amazing. I think it’s pretty remarkable and it’s weird,” added Leenstra.
The commonly reported “one-in-a-million” odds of five lambs being born happened once already this year in Alberta at a farm near Olds, according to a story from Global News on April 5. 2
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