# OMG she had 5



## J.T.M. (Mar 2, 2008)

But the weird thing was , the last 4 were breached .She needed no help, but I have witness over 1000 lambings, and never seen a breach before. 
Also backward was the size order ,Its always been biggest on down ,untill this time. Iv not weighed any yet but I can tell you all 5 are very strong and have suckled .


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## mariaricarto (Jul 1, 2010)

Wow! Congratulations!


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## Izitmidnight (Oct 22, 2011)

WHat gorgeous lambs! Glad toknow all are doing well, especially the mother.


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## J.T.M. (Mar 2, 2008)

Thanks ... it looks kind of like a train wreck .....


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## J.T.M. (Mar 2, 2008)

Yea mom is doing great .Shes a 2006 model ,Here is her history...

born 2006
2007 2/2
2008 4/4
2009 4/3 4/4 
2010 3/3
2011 4/4
2012 5/?


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## PNP Katahdins (Oct 28, 2008)

So she has raised quads several times. Thanks for putting the photographic evidence in the first post, BTW.

Good luck on all five making it okay. She doesn't look Romanov so would Finn be a good guess?

We've had several sets of healthy quads raised over the years, but never more than one set per ewe in her lifetime - so far.

Peg


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## J.T.M. (Mar 2, 2008)

POLYPAY ....
Peg, not only is she a killer ewe but she has daughters that are just as good.Normaly I lamb in late March - May, but I thought I would try dec/jan lambing with a few ewes to see what all the fuss was about .I dont like it and I will never do it again .Its - 3 in the barn ,uggggg , and these ewes are getting their first taste of alflfa ever @ $6.00 a square  This ewes three yr old daughter lambed 4 a few weeks ago she lost 2 and 1 was stolin by another ewe .From here on out its lambing when the grass is green only.

I am sure I will have to supplameant one of them .


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

I'm thinking 5 might be a little optimistic for a mum to raise too. Love those Polypays! Congrats!


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## Our Little Farm (Apr 26, 2010)

Congrats!


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## PNP Katahdins (Oct 28, 2008)

Polypay would have been my next guess since you are in Iowa and they're really common there. Their prolificacy comes from the Finn ancestry. Our Polypay crosses usually have twins and triplets that they can raise.

You weather must be like ours since we are to your east. Brrr! Freezing rain for later today, ugg. We try to lamb in April and May because of the weather and pastures; our early lambs are usually mistakes.

Bottle lambs in cold weather are no fun. Good luck.

Peg


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## bergere (May 11, 2002)

That is a nice puddle of lambs! Congrats!


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## farmgirl6 (May 20, 2011)

gorgeous, what a joy! what a great picture!


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## houndlover (Feb 20, 2009)

I'd be supplementing with bottles, regardless of her history. Congrats!


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

That's amazing
Good luck with them


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## J.T.M. (Mar 2, 2008)

Thanks everyone .As you can see all are doing very well this am .









Here is a shot of her daughters set of 4 (the sister of the daughter that lost 3 of 4 )born 14 days (?) ago .










Here is a shot of a twin ewe born spring 2011 to the daughter that lost 3.She is not due for two more weeks'ish .I think shes carrying more then a single ...


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## J.T.M. (Mar 2, 2008)

houndlover said:


> I'd be supplementing with bottles, regardless of her history. Congrats!


Thankyou .

My curiosity will not let me jump the gun untill Im sure its needed.At this point I see no need for it .


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## ThePigeonKid (Mar 19, 2011)

Wow! What breed is she?


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## J.T.M. (Mar 2, 2008)

ThePigeonKid said:


> Wow! What breed is she?


See post # 7 .

Her lambs are ile de france/dorset/ polypay .

Barn is 22 degrees right now and all 5 are bouncing off the walls...

Mom looks befuddled 

Here is a picture of her daughter that is now raising a single .GRRRRRR

You can see the dead lamb in the pic. Mom was a very good counter and everytime I tried to take the dead one away she would go nuts.Im very surprized she allowed another ewe to steal one. She lost a third one when I brung a skittish ewe into the barn that was bagging up ( trampled ).


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

I'd not bottle them until I saw they needed it either. But do be ready. I'd weight htme so you can tell faster. I have a ewe that was a quint - her mom raised them all with no help. I hope she will do the same for me. She's a corriedale X finn from a line totally capable of producing enough milk to feed 5 lambs. However, I do think the ewes get a pretty strained look on their face with 5 lambs running around - someone begging for food constantly. Give mom a special treat - she's gonna need to to keep her sanity.


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## Fowler (Jul 8, 2008)

OMG!!! 5 baby lambs!!! I would just be beside myself....Thank you for sharing the pics. I would want to camp out right there and just watch them, maybe squeeze them and call them all George!!! LOL


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## Olivia67 (Mar 6, 2008)

Congrads!!!! Wow what a wonderful litter of lambs!!!


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## nobrabbit (May 10, 2002)

Congrats, they are lovely! We've had twins regularly but no triplets; can't even imagine 5!


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## mawalla (Oct 28, 2002)

I had a ewe deliver quintuplets on April 1, 2004. My husband thought I was pulling a prank on him. I thought the ewe was pulling one on me. Anyway, I left them all with mum for the first few days then pulled a couple that looked weren't getting enough. Mum raised the rest but was fed very well to keep the milk production up. All lived.

We still have one I raised. Huge, friendly ewe by a Dorsett ram out of a Romanov, Suffolk cross ewe.


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## bknthesdle (Mar 27, 2011)

Amazing! Congrats! Thanks for sharing pictures!


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

mawalla said:


> I had a ewe deliver quintuplets on April 1, 2004. My husband thought I was pulling a prank on him. I thought the ewe was pulling one on me. Anyway, I left them all with mum for the first few days then pulled a couple that looked weren't getting enough. Mum raised the rest but was fed very well to keep the milk production up. All lived..........QUOTE]
> 
> I love a bottle baby up to a point. I like how friendly they are all their lives. BUT...I'd rather momma raise them. My finns each had twins last year, but hopefully will have more each this year. I plan on taking a couple bottles out and feeding anyone that needs a bit of a boost. Then they are still getting momma's milk and I am supplementing. SOOOO much easier than pulling them off entirely. A friend says it sometimes works best to bottle the largest ones for one feeding while getting the smaller ones to nurse momma without the competition. We'll see how it works.


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## MDKatie (Dec 13, 2010)

Wow! Congrats! What a good ewe! Worth her weight in gold!


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

JTM, I know you are down on winter lambing, but there may be a great marketing opportunity for these lambs. Whole lambs are the traditional Easter feast for several different Orthodox groups. 

I was thinking of you and this post while doing a mindless task at work today. I used to butcher lambs for some Greek Orthodox years ago.


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## Skip (Mar 13, 2008)

They are too adorable, and what a ewe. My accounting training has me thinking mom is the golden ewe. Ross mentioned that white market lambs bring the best price.

All I've read has mentioned if a ewe can deliver two live lambs to market each year she's a keeper. Wonder what quads and quints make her? Congrats!!


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## J.T.M. (Mar 2, 2008)

An update:I finaily weighed them ... 36 lbs. total.They are filling out but Mom is an eatting machine as you can imangine and I am not sure Im comfortable with how much condition she is already losing.I do have a bag of replacer that has been in the freezer for 3 yrs. was so hoping it would be there for 4.They are very active and mom does stand long enough for each to get its fill.The 5th one not in picture is busy chewing on my boot lace


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## J.T.M. (Mar 2, 2008)

tinknal said:


> JTM, I know you are down on winter lambing, but there may be a great marketing opportunity for these lambs. Whole lambs are the traditional Easter feast for several different Orthodox groups.
> 
> *Tink , one of the issues with mutibles is that they don't get to size as fast as singles or twins .In the barn right now I have 5 ewes with 20 lambs ( well 6 ewes with 21 lambs but thats going to be a differant thread )Winter is just way to costly for my type of sheep.*
> I was thinking of you and this post while doing a mindless task at work today. *~ blush ~* ......


.....


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

Rather than bottling the babies, can you beef up mom's feed?


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## J.T.M. (Mar 2, 2008)

Callieslamb said:


> Rather than bottling the babies, can you beef up mom's feed?


Oh Im not conceding defeat yet...


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## J.T.M. (Mar 2, 2008)

n update on the 5 

All five are doing very good .Did not have to bottle any of them or grain the ewe.Smallest one is now 26 lbs. Here is a picture from a few weeks ago .


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

You're keeping all the ewe lambs right?  Well Done all round!


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## CJBegins (Nov 20, 2009)

Pretty amazing. For some reason Octomom keeps popping into my mind......lol

The Ewe is worth her weight in gold!


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

Did we ever ask what breed she is? They are all looking good.


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## J.T.M. (Mar 2, 2008)

Ross said:


> You're keeping all the ewe lambs right?  Well Done all round!


Ross ,she has two rams and three ewes.Someone has made an offer to good to pass on one of the ewes.They are coming to pick it up this Wednesday.Here is a picture from Feb.19 .The one in the middle is the one I have been weighing .The one that has had a bath is the one Im selling .She is the biggest of the ewes.The ram on the upper left went thru. an amazing growth spurt .I have to lock him up to give the others a chance at a teat.The ewe is starting to show a lack of patience .Moms condition score is around a 2.5 .She ate an entire 50 lb. bail of alfalfa in 3 days - stems and all.I honestly don't understand how people can make winter lambing very profitable .


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

J.T.M. said:


> Ross ,she has two rams and three ewes.Someone has made an offer to good to pass on one of the ewes.They are coming to pick it up this Wednesday.Here is a picture from Feb.19 .The one in the middle is the one I have been weighing .The one that has had a bath is the one Im selling .She is the biggest of the ewes.The ram on the upper left went thru. an amazing growth spurt .I have to lock him up to give the others a chance at a teat.She is starting to show a lack of patience .Moms condition score is around a 2.5 .She ate an entire 50 lb. bail of alfalfa in 3 days - stems and all.I honestly don't understand how people can make winter lambing very profitable .


 Glad you got a good price but that too good to pass up offer isn't a mistake, good ewes that drop and raise lambs like that are invaluable. Just me but I would have at least kept back the very best one, even if thats not always the one you pick at first.

Winter lambing is a lot more costly, used to be worth it for the Easter market but most places have strong demand year round now.


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## J.T.M. (Mar 2, 2008)

Ross ,I know what you mean .I want to keep her badly ,but she will pay for 60% + of my winter lambing cost so...........


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## Leo (Feb 7, 2006)

I didn't read all the replies. But wow, and beautiful lambs.


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## J.T.M. (Mar 2, 2008)

The first of last yrs. quintuplets has lambed (#73) .She has a nice set of twins weighing 8.5 - 9.0 lbs. each . Her sister #72 is showing an interest .


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## bknthesdle (Mar 27, 2011)

Grats!!!


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## SilverFlame819 (Aug 24, 2010)

With sheep dropping 5 at a time and RAISING them all, I'd say it's high time she got herself a real name. How about Mary? As in Mary Poppins. *lol* I just picture her with a magical bag she keeps reaching in and pulling more babies out of...


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## bergere (May 11, 2002)

Just Wow! You have one special Ewe there!! Congrats on her raising all 5.


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

Breed? I'm going to guess there is some Finn bloodlinees in there.


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## BobbyB (Apr 6, 2009)

I used to raise Barbado crosses and I was always happy to just see twins. I would have bee yelling out loud if I saw 5 at once.

I didnt see this last year when it was going on, but Im glad she raised them for you. Pretty cool.


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...s-birth-QUINTUPLETS-beating-million-odds.html

You guys beat them to it..


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## SilverFlame819 (Aug 24, 2010)

Sure, a one in a million chance if you don't have sheep that were bred to have "litters".


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## Skip (Mar 13, 2008)

JTM wondering after you marketed the lambs from that winter if it was more profitable? or worth doing again?


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## J.T.M. (Mar 2, 2008)

Skip said:


> JTM wondering after you marketed the lambs from that winter if it was more profitable? or worth doing again?


 My flock is still genetically related to that ewe , however most of my flock now calls an Amish farm in the state of Ohio home . WAs/are they profitable ... yes .


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## Skip (Mar 13, 2008)

Thanks for the reply JTM. I was wondering if the winter breedings vs feed costs were profitable enough to do the winter breeding? You wrote "one of the issues with mutibles is that they don't get to size as fast as singles or twins .In the barn right now I have 5 ewes with 20 lambs ( well 6 ewes with 21 lambs but thats going to be a differant thread )Winter is just way to costly for my type of sheep." I was wondering if you still felt the same way after the lambs were sold?


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