Kirsch Family ewe delivers foursome
By Nila Harris
PEACH GROVE — Six days before Christmas, on the first night of the Kirsch Family Live Nativity, one of the Kirsches’ ewes had a set of quadruplet lambs.
“It was a shock to all of us,” family member Lindsay Arkenau said. “We’ve never had quadruplets before.”
The chances of quadruplet lambs being born “happens in the breed only once in every 500 births,” according to the Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine website.
Arkenau, of Butler, said that the family took some sheep and goats to a clinic in Campbell County to have them artificially inseminated to increase the animals’ egg supply and to build up their flock.
“There is a 30% higher chance that we would have triplets or quadruplets,” she said.
The family usually has a set of triplets every three to four years, but never had quads.
Arkenau is bottle-feeding two of the lambs at her home, while the other two are with the mother sheep on her grandfather Ken Kirsch’s farm in Peach Grove.
“They are doing really good. They are very active and love to chase around a tree.”
The extended Kirsch family, who were together participating in the 33rd year of the live nativity, named the four lambs after things having to do with food served at the event.
The only male lamb was named Bean to represent the cocoa beans in their hot cocoa. A girl named Peanut stood for peanut butter cookies. Cookies is a white speckled female named after Oreo cookies. And Clover was named for the whole cloves used in their spiced tea.
The Kirsch family, which includes several households in the Butler area, has raised sheep all Arkenau’s life. The 19-year-old has been showing sheep at the Pendleton County Youth Fair since she was 2 years old. Her mom, Josie Kirsch Arkenau, and her uncle, Dale Kirsch, showed sheep at a young age, along with several cousins.