Iowa Farmer Surprised With Rare Sheep Birth

The featured image is not of the sheep in the story. 

It's lambing season meaning sheep farmers are preparing for the growth of their flock. For one Iowa sheep farmer, this lambing season will be one they don’t forget.

Over the weekend, a ewe in Poweshiek County had an unheard-of birth.

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Around 2:30 Sunday morning, a ewe went into labor on a farm south of Grinnell. The Braxton family said the mom did have a large belly so they were expecting her to have either twins or triplets.

They never imagined she would give birth to as many as she did.

Braxton Brand told KCCI,

So, we went out here and there were two on the ground here and we moved them in and we had a third and then a fourth and then a fifth. Never had four, never had five, always triplets — is our most.

Sheep typically produce one lamb per birth, though it's not entirely uncommon to see twins thrown into the mix. Triplets are rare but not uncommon. But quintuplets, that’s unheard of!

Veterinarians say there is a one-in-a-million chance that a ewe will have quintuplet lambs. On top of that, all five were healthy, which is even rarer.

According to KCCI, Braxton started his sheep herd five years ago when he was nine years old. His flock started off with five sheep.

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