Two sets of quintuplet lambs are born in Swindon

Pippa Burr said the sheep had "done her proud"

Two sets of quintuplet lambs have been born in a "one in a million" event, a farmer has said.

Farm owner Rupert Burr described the event as "quite remarkable" with the lambs being born just a few days apart at the end of March.

The rare occurrence happened on Roves farm and visitor centre in Sevenhampton, Swindon.

Farmer Megan Priest said she was only expecting three lambs and was shocked when another two came out.

Mr Burr said: "The chances of this are very slim, they say it's about one in a million to get one set of quintuplets in a season, so to have two in a few days is quite remarkable."

Ms Priest added: "The ewe had three babies which we put in a pen to warm up, then we went back to find two more had popped out.

"It's very rare, especially with the number of sheep we have got, you might expect maybe to get one set of quintuplets, and not all of them survive, but to have two sets and all of them survive is pretty impressive."

The farmers said it is rare for this many lambs to survive

Mr Burr runs the family business on the farm where his father started out in 1951. He has lived on the farm his whole life, taking over the business in 1970.

"There are always ups and downs on the farm, we are very much about animal health," he said.

His daughter, Pippa Burr, is now taking the reins and said they had been very lucky with their lambs.

"I bought my sheep eleven years ago and they have done me proud," she said.

"Its very long hours and hard work but when you see them skipping around its very rewarding."

Since the mother does not have enough teats for all of the lambs, three will be reared by their individual mothers and two will be bottle fed.

Ms Burr added: "We are bottle feeding goats already so it will be lovely to have some lambs up there too."