Births put farm in lamblight 2005

KOPPENHAFER, GUTHMILLER, MEADE

Posted By: Mistina Christner (email)
Date: 7/19/2018 at 11:27:54

Source: Iowa City Press Citizen 3/13/2005

Births put farm in lamblight
Iowa City families' 2 sets of quadruplet lambs a rarity
By Adam Pracht

A rare occurrence came to an Iowa City sheep farm earlier this month when a female sheep gave birth to four lambs. Three days later, another ewe also gave birth to a set of quadruplets.
Chance Koppenhafer of Iowa City, an Iowa City veterinarian, said sheep usually have one or two lambs. He's seen seven sets of triplets in his six years of raising and birthing sheep but had never seen ewes give birth to quadruplets.
"They had a little shocked look on their face and the second ewe when I took two of them, she didn't even 'Baa,'" Koppenhafer said. "She was just happy to have a little less stress."
Ron Meade, who owns the farm where Koppenhafer keeps about 30 sheep, said he's been raising sheep for about 20 years and had never seen one set of quadruplets, much less two.
"I was surprised," Meade said. "I had to do a double-take when I saw them."
Koppenhafer takes care of birthing his sheep as well as Meade's 200 sheep. The first ewe belongs to Koppenhafer and the second to Meade, but the same male sheep, or buck, seeded both ewes.
Koppenhafer said the quadruplets required more work. Because ewes have only two nipples, two sheep from each set of quadruplets have been set aside to be bottle-fed.
All of those are female, Koppenhafer said, and the plan is to keep them for breeding.
His children had already named the two from his ewe Marshmallow and Vanilla, Koppenhafer said. The two from Meade's ewe have been named Oreo and Spot.
Koppenhafer said his children played with the lambs in the front yard all weekend during the warmer weather.
"They ran them until they fell asleep as they were playing with them," he said.
March is a peak month for ewes to birth, Koppenhafer said, although the entire birthing season can last from December through July. He said that although sheep had fallen out of favor as livestock, prices have been good lately with sheep 120 pounds or more fetching $1.10 to $1.15 a pound.
As to whether there's something underlying the large lamb litters, Meade said he didn't expect it was something in the water.
"Good buck," he said, referring to the male sheep that seeded both ewes.
Koppenhafer smiled and laughed at that.
"We were worried the old fella was getting to old," he said. "It just shows that age can't really stop a guy."