text: This bundle of joy was a special spring surprise for both his mother and the farmers who delivered the 20lb new-born after a gruelling three-hour birth. He was so big that it took Shepherd John Hendy and a team of three helpers to help mother Jean deliver the young lamb near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, who they've now named Big Ben. Suffolk black lamb Jean is seven years old and an experienced mother but Ben is twice the weight of all his brothers and sisters born before him, all weighing the average weight of 8-10lbs. Big Ben: the 20lb lamb is twice the weight of the average new-born, towering over peers . Proud mum: Jean with huge son Big Ben after a three-hour labour at a Leicestershire farm . Ben isn't the biggest lamb ever born in this country but Jean Morris from the farm said Big Ben was comfortably the biggest they have ever delivered. 'I don't think there was anything unusual about either parent and this is the first time we have bred a lamb as large as this,' she said. 'His mother must have been relieved when it was over.' She added that the farm hopes to keep Ben as a breeding ram in the hope he will pass his amazing features to his future flock. 'This year we had 86 ewes to lamb but no-one expected anyone like him,' she said. 'We are thinking about keeping him as a tup - a breeding ram - to see if he passes on his weight to the lambs he sires.' Almost as big as a person: Ben dwarfs the other 86 ewes born at the same farm this season . Ben's arrival came just a fortnight after the largest lamb born in the UK weighed in at a massive 24lbs in north Wales. He was named The Big One and is believed to be the heaviest lamb ever born in the wild. Last year Goliath was born at a hefty 22lbs 5oz in Wellington in Somerset. The title for the heaviest Suffolk cross lamb was Bruno, nicknamed 'Woooly Lamboth', who was born in Worcestershire in 2009 at a healthy 21lbs. Bruno was spared the chop because of his size as his owner decided to keep him as a pet because he was curious to know just how big he would get. New Zealand is the world's biggest producer of lambs. But the largest new-born lamb ever recorded there weighed just 15.5lbs.
target: Farmers named him Big Ben as he dwarfs other 85 ewes born this season .
  Mum is experienced seven-year-old but other offspring all weighed 8-10lbs .
  Born two weeks after biggest ever lamb born in Wales, weighing 24lbs .