Sheep delivers triplets with different fathers at Market Rasen farm

8 February 2023

Staff at Rand Farm Park with lamb triplets — Image caption,
The triplets seem unconcerned about their parentage

A sheep has given birth to triplet lambs with different fathers at a farm park in Lincolnshire.

Nathan Brickwood, from Rand Farm Park, near Wragby, said when they were born it was clear the lambs were a different breed to their mother.

Kimbell Art Museum

The oldest work in our collection? Ewe guessed it—it’s this Sumerian sculpture from c. 3300-2900 B.C.

This realistic ewe’s head probably comes from a full sculpture of a sheep that was most likely displayed in a temple, but its precise ritualistic purpose is unknown.

Sacred lambs are associated with the mother goddess, Ninhursag, and it has been suggested that the ewe symbolizes Duttur, the mother of Dumuzi, who was an important god of milk, sheepherding, and the netherworld.

Sumerian temples owned large tracts of land and were very involved in animal husbandry. The herding of sheep and cattle is a recurrent theme in early Sumerian art and literature.

Please note that this work is not currently on view. Learn more about it: https://kimbellart.org/collection/ap-197938

“Head of a Ewe,” Sumerian, c. 3300-2900 B.C. Kimbell Art Museum