WATCH: Clonkill's quintuplet lambs are 'one in a million'

There was huge excitement on a local farm earlier this week when a ewe gave birth to five healthy lambs, a one in a million occurrence.

Martin Merlehan and his father Oliver assisted the ewe when she gave birth on their farm in Clonkill on Monday evening. The arrival of the five lambs was particularly welcomed by Martin's sons Fionn (8) and Ned (5), who love to help their daddy and grandad on the farm.

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner, Martin's wife Pauline said that lambing season has been slow to start this year – they would usually be around halfway through at this stage - but the arrival of five lambs will hopefully augur well for the weeks ahead.

Unsurprisingly, the lambs' mother doesn't have enough milk to feed her hungry offspring, so the Merlehans are using powdered lamb milk to supplement her feeds. It's one of three varieties of powdered milk currently being used by the family. The Merelehan's also rear calves, while Martin and Pauline's four month old baby son Sean is on the human variety.

The Merelehans' ewes have given birth to twins and triplets in the past, but this is the first time that one has given birth to five. The chances of ewe giving birth to five healthy lambs is extremely rare, but Pauline says that the ewe and her baby are doing very well.

“The chances are around one in a million. The odds of them surviving more than 24 hours is also very high,” she said.

She says that Fionn and Ned are particularly taken with the new additions to their flock and are doing their bit.

“They help out their grandfather Oliver a lot with the sheep and are very good with them,” she said.