A giant lamb believed to be the one of the biggest ever born in the UK weighs the same as a toddler.
The super-sized newborn, named Billy, tipped the scales at a whopping 24.7lbs (11.2kg) and is around three times the size of normal lambs.
One of his brothers born in the same litter, weighed just 4.4lbs (2kg).
Farmer Steve Booth, who delivered Billy at his farm in Upper Broughton, Leicestershire, said: ‘It was approximately 6am when the mother went into labour.
‘It was a completely normal birth.
Billy, who weighs an amazing 24.7lbs, towers above one of his brothers from the same litter
One of the baby sheep’s brothers weighed just 4.4lbs after it was born on a farm in Upper Broughton, Leicestershire
Billy stands next to his mum just an hour after she was born on March 9
‘We think this is the biggest one we’ve delivered and I’ve been doing this for 20 years now.
‘This is a fairly one off thing but you never know, there could be a bigger one around the corner.
‘We didn’t know it was going to be that big until I saw it’s head showing, it looked like an adult ram.
‘The mother didn’t show any signs of having an extra large lamb inside her, they don’t really, you never know until you see the first signs of the lamb.
‘The poor thing was stuck, his head and foot were popping out but his other foot was bent back inside his mother.’
After an hour of struggling, Steve, who runs the farm with wife Diana, 56, and their daughter Samantha, 34, said: ‘Unfortunately my hands are quite large and I couldn’t reach inside, so I had to quickly ring my daughter.
Farmer Steve Booth, who described it as a ‘completely normal birth’ holds Billy (left) and farm worker Helen Watchorn (right) with Billy and one of the lambs born ion the same litter
‘She’s got smaller hands and managed to push it back in to get the other leg and pull it completely out.
‘The lamb came out pretty easy considering the size of him.
‘It took about three minutes to deliver when my daughter arrived, she pushed the leg back in, popped a bit of lube around it and then out it came.
‘Billy is now being reared on the bottle, he’s more like a dog, he follows you around because he’s expecting to be fed.
Billy, pictured next to a lamb of the same age, is being reared on the bottle and is ‘more like a dog’
Billy, who is so big that it got stuck as it was being delivered, is said to be ‘very bold’ and different in character to other smaller lambs
‘He’s very bold, a little bit slower but very active, they’re a different character compared to the smaller lambs.’
Farmworker Helen Watchorn, 31, who helped with the birth on March 9, said: ‘I turned up at work at 6.30am to find Steve in one of the lambing pens and he was holding Billy’s head up to keep his airways open so he could breathe because he was so big he couldn’t get out.
‘Steve was there for about an hour but he couldn’t get him out so he rang Sam who delivered him. He was massive and we weighed him straight away and he was 11.2kg.
‘He’s definitely the biggest lamb I’ve ever seen. It was amazing.’
The honour of the biggest lamb goes to Hagrid (right) who was delivered on a farm near Grantham, Lincolnshire in 2015 at 25lbs
It is believed the biggest ever lamb birthed in the UK was born in 2015, and was called Hagrid, after fictional giant in Harry Potter.
Dwarfing other newborns on the farm in Gelston, near Grantham, Lincolnshire, the owners said he weighed in an 25lbs, and was 14in tall.
It was found to be 2oz heavier than a giant ewe lamb called Joan, born in Lancashire two years earlier.