Photo gallery: Norfolk farmer celebrates his first set of goat quads

Award-winning goats' cheese maker Sam Steggles has received a surplus delivery on his Breckland holding – his first set of quads.

He was milking his herd of pedigree goats at Great Ellingham, near Attleborough, when the first nanny arrived. Then he checked the British Saanen goat again and saw two of pairs of eyes.

'I helped her and then I realised that she still hadn't finished.

'To my surprise she produced a healthy set of quads – two billy and two nanny goats,' said Mr Steggles, who started making his range of Fielding Cottage goats' cheese last summer.

'It is unusual for a goat to have quads but we seem to have had a very hard-working billy this year,' he added.

Of the six goats which have kidded so far, they have produced one single, two sets of twins, two sets of triplets and finally the quads, said Mr Steggles, who runs the business with his brother, Bertie.

'They were much bigger than I expected and they seem to be doing very well. I spoke to a farmer who milks 500 goats who told me that having quads was pretty unusual,' said Sam, who has another 20 to kid in the next few weeks. 'We'll keep the nanny goats and they will come into the herd in about 18 months.'

Since the venture was launched last year, sales of his fresh cheese at farmers' markets and shows have been increasing steadily. 'Now that more of our goats will be coming back into milk, we'll be able to increase our production as we build up the herd,' said Mr Steggles.

They bought their first 10 British Saanen goats, from Cumbria in 2009, and started selling their cheese in August last year. The brothers now run a total of about 30 goats, including a couple of British Toggenburgs.

Their venture won Norfolk Farming Forum's growing business award and a cheque for �5,000, which was presented at last summer's Royal Norfolk Show.