Crossbred ewe named Mary had five little lambs in north-east Victoria and four survived
North Wangaratta's Karen Ritchens was gobsmacked when she saw five lambs from the same ewe.
Ms Ritchens said she initially thought the ewe, named Mary, had given birth to twins.
"We came home Saturday afternoon to see two healthy twins running along beside her. An hour later we looked out and saw number three," she said.
"And half an hour later there was another, so we had four. We took them to the stables with hay, and tucked them into beds.
"We popped out again for an hour and when we came back there was number five. I was shocked and counted them again."
Ms Ritchens said the fifth lamb was very cold and needed to be taken inside and warmed up by the fire.
"When you popped your finger in her mouth she was very cold, very close to death," she said.
"So we popped her in a box of hay, turned the heating on and rubbed her down with a towel for a couple of hours.
"Her legs were a bit jammed up — five lambs in a belly I guess one had to get squashed — but eventually she came around and stood up and started bleating."
Although the fifth lamb was nursed back to health, later in the week another of the lambs died.
"I came out Wednesday morning and unfortunately she [the ewe] had laid on one, so that was very sad," Ms Ritchens said. Quintuplets are rare
