MARION, Iowa (AP) -- A lamb in eastern Iowa has given birth to quintuplets.

Farmer Bret Blackford, who farms near Marion, says one of his ewes had grown to the size of a 55-gallon oil barrel, so he knew something big was going to happen.

The Gazette in Cedar Rapids reports that Saturday afternoon she began delivering and within 20 minutes five were born. One died about 30 minutes later. The others survived on bottle-feeding.

Michigan State University sheep expert Alan Culham has placed the odds of a Suffolk-mix breed having quintuplets at about one in 10,000 or higher. Blackford's ewe is a Dorset-Suffolk cross.

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