An Aberdeenshire farming couple’s first ever lambing season took a dramatic turn when one of their sheep had quintuplets.
Holly Taylor and Lewis Emslie bought 33 ewes from Thainstone Auctions last November, for Little Barras Farm between Stonehaven and Laurencekirk.
As an animal-lover, Miss Taylor thought it would be an enjoyable project – and thought selling the sheep could help fund the pair’s upcoming wedding in October.
But she and her farmer fiance got more than they bargained for two weeks ago, after a particularly large ewe went into labour.
Miss Taylor said: “She’d given birth to one herself, and then I was helping her with the rest.
“We were just expecting three from her, she was a fair size, and every time I went back just to check everything else there was just another lamb, and another lamb.
“Lewis wasn’t believing me when I was phoning him and said she had five.”
It is extremely rare for sheep to have so many lambs. Typically, a ewe will have between one and three offspring in a season.
Miss Taylor said: “Someone said it was one in a million, but I don’t know if that’s accurate.”
Currently, there are 60 lambs on Little Barras Farm, and three ewes are still to give birth.
All the life on the farm is a treat for the farm’s youngest resident, the couple’s 14-month-old daughter Grace.
Miss Taylor said: “She’s been coming up with her little wellies and waterproof suit on, and gets involved.
“It’s funny, she just sits and points at them all.”
