IN the nursery rhyme Mary had a little lamb — but at Smithills Open Farm she has had four.

The Monday morning birth is the first lamb quads the farm has seen, and there is nothing sheepish about these four bundles of wool — two male and two female — marking the start of spring.

Three of the mules were born to mum Mary and dad Gilbert on Monday morning at 6am with the fourth following almost two hours later — much to the surprise of farm boss Carl Grimshaw.

He said: "Lamb quads are rare. We get a lot of triplets but not quads — especially ones of this size. They were about eight to 10 pounds each in weight."

The farm, which has 50 ewes to one ram, has had to separate two of the lambs from Mary so that they all receive the correct amount of milk they need to stay healthy.

Mr Grimshaw said: "They are feeding well, although we have had to mother one onto another ewe and bottle feed another because they only have two teats, and they all wouldn't be able to get the food they need.

"Some people don't like that but it's for the welfare of the lambs and the mum."

The lambs, which have not yet been named, will be monitored for a few weeks before being let loose out in the farm's field.

Mr Grimshaw said: "We will keep them in for about two or three weeks just to make sure that they are fit and healthy and allow the grass to grow a bit more. Then we let them out in the day and bring them in at night.

"We normally wean them at about five months old, so in August or September time.

"We have lambs born all year round at the farm, but March is definitely the best time."