14 DAY TRIAL // A spring lamb born at Sunnyside Farm in Wellington, Somerset, has been named Goliath after owners realized it was three times the size of an average lamb.
Normally, average lambs weigh around 5lb to 7lb (2.2-3.1 kg) at birth, but this hefty baby born to a Suffolk mule ewe tipped the scales at 22.5lb (10kg).
53-year-old farmer David Enticott helped deliver the newborn on Thursday, and he was shocked by the size of the lamb. He and his wife Ann had been lambing for 13 years, but they say they have never seen anything like it.
“When he was born, we just couldn’t believe how big he was. We decided that we should weigh him and when we looked online we realized just how impressive this was,” Anne said, according to Metro.
Goliath has narrowly missed the Guinness world record title, as it weighs just 1.5lb (0.68kg) less than the current title holder, who was born at 24lbs (10.9kg) at Honey Hole Farm in Bacup, Lancashire, in May 2013.
Ewes often produce multiple lambs, but when they have a single baby, it can be larger than regular lambs. The increase in the lamb births, both in number and birth weight, may cause problems in delivery and lamb survival but, fortunately, in this case the lamb's mother is just fine.