The extra mouths to feed have increased the amount of work that is required, but the owners feel it is worth it in the end
DAPP, Alta. — Leonard and Twyla Tomlinson, who farm west of Dapp, have raised sheep for 18 years.
Twins, triplets, and the occasional quadruplets are pretty normal for them. Their flock average is 2.1 to 2.5 live lambs per ewe.
But on April 22 one of their ewes gave birth to five healthy lambs.
The two females and three male lambs not only survived, but they are thriving. At birth, they were six and seven pounds each, and when they weighed them April 28, they had already gained a pound. Just two years old, the ewe had quadruplets in her first lambing last year.
Of course, the ewe, which the Tomlinsons said is a one-third Rideau Arcott, one-third Canadian Arcott and one-third Romanov, can’t successfully feed them all, so some additional bottle feeding is necessary.
It’s extra work for the Tomlinsons, but they feel the reward in the end is worth it.
The ram that fathered them is a full-blood Romanov.
The couple started raising sheep in 2004 when they moved from Twyla’s parents’ farm to the farm a few kilometres away that Leonard’s parents had owned.
“We bought 30 bred Charlotte ewe lambs from them. Later, we bought a Rideau Arcott ram for a maternity sire and a Canadian Arcott for a terminal sire,” Twyla said. “We mainly keep our ewe lambs for replacements (they intend to keep one of the quintuplet ewe lambs).”
They added to the flock in 2011 when they bought 20 full-blood Rideau Arcott ewe lambs.
“For the last 10 years, we have been lambing out 200 ewes,” Twyla said. “Normally, we start lambing March 1, but in the last five years, we have started Feb. 1 to take advantage of the better market prices in May and June.”
On April 28, she said they still had 50 ewes to lamb out, and 40 of them are ewe lambs.
