Editorial: Springtime ushers in lamb 'Lotto'

It started with a story from Northland about a sheep that gave birth to a lamb with six legs - a "hexolamb".

Then, a few days later, I was driving from Hawke's Bay to Wairarapa and back - more about that later - past paddock after paddock of frisky, frolicking lambs.

"What we're missing," I said to Hawke's Bay Today editor Antony Phillips, "is a cute lamb story.

"We need to find a lamb that's been adopted by a cow or something like that."

The story that landed on the news desk the next day wasn't a cow-lamb adoption story, but it was indeed something like that.

As reported in Mark Story's article on Saturday, a ewe in a Havelock North farm gave birth to lamb quintuplets.

Even more unusually, all five lambs survived - a feat described by an experienced Hawke's Bay vet as "like winning Lotto".

I'm not sure that's how the ewe felt about it but certainly it was a remarkable story.

Things were looking a little shaky for the tiny lambs, but they were being bottle-fed lovingly to give them the best possible chance.

Being excited by the arrival of spring lambs possibly marks me out as a ridiculous Aucklander but, for the record, I grew up in dairy-farming towns.

And, let's be honest, you'd have to have a cold heart to not appreciate the sight of them cavorting and kicking up their heels in the sunshine. They're delightful - and a welcome reminder that winter is giving way to the warm, balmy days the Bay is famous for.

I'm going to be making that drive to Wairarapa often over the next few months as I take up a temporary role at the Wairarapa Times-Age, which means I'll be absent from this Monday column for awhile.

But the lambs will be a welcome sight as I make the trip across Central Hawke's Bay and back every week.

Because, for the record, I love a good lamb roast, too.