Rusk with mice for John and Pieter Ros after the special birth of sextuplets

Wagging tails in a well-stocked pen with lambs. The mother – who looks wonderfully fit after a big job – is busy. The newborn lambs take turns looking for milk. Because it is impossible to provide the four rams and two ewes with sufficient nutrients, livestock farmers John and Pieter lend a hand. They are fed extra every two hours with milk from old beer bottles.

Big surprise

Last night was a big surprise. John Ros: “Last night the sheep started to give birth. My wife Margreet delivered them and we had four lambs. That is already a bit more than average. When she started giving milk an hour later, her legs were sticking out again. That was number five “And when I went to look at 3 o’clock in the morning, six were walking. Very special. We never expected this, because she was not that fat. And very nice to see that the lambs are all doing well.”

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For the time being, they will all stay with their mother, but that will not be possible in the long term. “I think we’ll remove three and start feeding them. Otherwise it’s impossible for the mother to keep up. And neither for the lambs. Names? No, they don’t have those. We can’t tell them apart. The mother? It has number 645.”

The brothers John and Pieter Ros have about 120 cows and 12 sheep of the Swifter breed on their farm in Abbekerk. “Normally, an average of three lambs come off. This was the first of all, so I wonder if we can go over this,” says John with a wink. The special birth is a beautiful start of spring. “You wouldn’t say it because of the weather, but spring has sprung here.”