A north-east farming couple are starting to lose count of their sheep – after their flock produced a staggering four sets of quads in the space of just 24 hours.
The spring lambs have been arriving four by four at Kenny and Moira Marshall’s holding in Aberdeenshire.
Mr Marshall, 49, has been working on the farm since he was just 17 and has never seen a phenomenon like it.
And he and his wife were glad of a couple of extra pairs of hands to help with the glut of new arrivals, in the shape of daughters, Shona, 17, and Julie, 21, who are at home on holiday from university.
Mr and Mrs Marshall run Wogle Farm at Kinellar, as well as Marshall’s Farm Shop midway between Blackburn and Kintore on the A96 Aberdeen-Inverness road.
Mr Marshall said: “We lamb 200 ewes every year.
“This was very lucky. To get one set of quads is very unusual, but four in a 24-hour period is rare”, especially as they are all still living and doing well.”
He added: “I’m happy with the number of lambs and obviously the more living lambs you have the more profit you will make.”
Three of the sets of quads arrived on Sunday, and just as the family thought their good luck had come to an end the final set showed up early yesterday morning.
Mr and Mrs Marshall aim to produce everything for their shop on the 2,500-acre farm.
The sheep were bred from Texel, Lleyn and Charollais.
Mr Marshall said: “By combining different types of sheep you get the best features of each one.
“It’s the Lleyn which have given us the high numbers here.”
And Mr Marshall said that far from missing city life, the couple’s two daughters were keen to get involved with the births.
He said: “They were brought up here and love the farm.”
“To get one set of quads is very unusual, but four in a 24-hour period is rare”