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| JJ at a few days old |
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| JJ visiting some folks that are not able to visit our farm |
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| JJ on his feet within a few days |
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| Taking over one of the dog beds |
Late one night, on the coldest night of the year, we received a phone call that would forever change our lives. There was a little boy lamb born the evening before, and his mother was not attending to him. She had not cleaned or nursed him. He was wet, cold and not going to make it. We agreed that knowing this, we just couldn't let this little guy die. Grabbing towels, warming our truck, we took off into the freezing night, talking about this poor little guys entrance into this world. We kept assuring each other that if he were still alive, we would do everything we could to give him a good life. When we pulled into the driveway of our neighbor's farm, we jumped out with flashlights and started searching for this tiny icicle. We couldn't find him initially, but after really going over the whole barn , we found him lying on ice in the corner. My heart just sank. It didn't look like he was moving at all, he didn't respond to my picking him up. I grabbed him and put him inside my coat and ran to our truck. I wrapped he and I in the towels so that he could feel my body heat. I kept rubbing him and talking to him and finally I thought that I felt a tiny movement. Or, maybe I just wanted to feel any movement. He had somehow survived more than 24 hours in wind chill of way below zero with no protection. I kept wanting to look at him and see if I saw any movement, a breath, anything. But, I didn't want to move him away from the warmth that I had created for him. When we reached our farm, I took him inside, didn't know if this was something that I should do, but I didn't think that we could do much more damage than he had already been through, but I plugged in a heating pad and put it inside the towels with him. I ran warm water in my jacuzzi and planned on putting him in. I knew enough to not turn the jets on (city girl living in the country remember). Asked my husband to find an eye dropper and clean it and mix some concoction together with what we had that would not hopefully harm him. He boiled water and let it cool, added powdered milk, yogurt and honey together.....sounded okay. Meanwhile, he started to move around under the towels. I carried him to the jacuzzi and dipped his feet in (they are unbelievably cute and tiny). His foot jerked and I knew we were changing directions and heading towards life. Inch by inch, I immursed him into the warm water. He struggled a bit, I'm sure this was all rather frightening to him. I kept talking to him and rubbing him with a warm wash cloth and pouring the warm water over him. My bathroom door closed, heat light on, it was now about 80 degrees in there. It felt good to me, and hopefully even better to him. After I cleaned off all of the barn and birth debris, I wrapped him in a clean, warm towel. My husband came in with the warm concoction and the eye dropper. He inquired as to how this little guy was doing, and then said he couldn't take the heat in the bathroom. He's a contractor, works outside a lot, our thermostat is usually set at about 65 degrees or he's uncomfortable. Me, I wear a few layers and we survive happily together. I took an eye dropper and dripped little drops of this warm, sweet liquid into his mouth making sure that he would not aspirate. I just kept rocking, rubbing, reassuring and dripping liquid into his mouth. Finally, one eye opened and looked up at me. After telling him "Hello", I snuggled him close, and we slept together in that hot bathroom for the next few hours. My husband was able to take an hour in the morning and stay with"JJ" the name I selected at 3 a.m. I dressed and drove to the farm store. They usually try and sell me everything because I'm one of those "Chicago people" who would believe anything that they would say. Believe me, we have every kind of bird seed that any bird in the world might want, food for the squirrels and another possible animal that might wander through our farm. But this time, I knew what I wanted and nothing more. They tried to sell me a bucket with nipples, a huge bottle with a huge nipple and several other things. I grabbed a bag of Lamb Replacer and bought a bottle of lemonade out of the cooler, paid and I was out the door. Made those guys wonder, I'm sure. Not such easy pickings anymore. I was on a mission. Went to the drug store and bought baby bottle nipples and I was headed home. When I got home JJ was sound asleep, wrapped in a towel, in one of dogs beds with our dogs lying near. I heated up a needle and made the opening in the nipple slightly larger and was determined to get some food into this baby. I started out very gently poking his mouth with the warm nipple, squeezing the warm, sweet liquid out, hoping that he would instantly know what to do. He did not. So, I had to get a bit more insistent that he really needed to learn this sucking thing sooner than later Every 15 minutes or so, I would pick him up and poke the warm nipple at his mouth and try and fit it in when he would open his mouth. That took most of the day, but by the next morning, he definitely had the idea. He loved his bottle, was hopping and running everywhere. Our dogs were not sure what to think, but they seemed to enjoy him from the couches. We were so happy watching this little guy begin his life. His little quiet noises became full fledged bleating. When it was time to eat, he would bump the back of our legs to let us know it was time. After a few days, I would let him stand at the open door with me when I would let the dogs out so that he would start being exposed to something other than our house. Even though it was fun watching him while I took a bath, he couldn't live in there forever. He would venture out and then run back in when the dogs would come back. They were in and out pretty quickly on these freezing days. One day, I wrapped JJ up in a blanket and took him to a wonderful place where older folks reside and thought that it would be a treat for them to hold and feed this little love. It was, he received so many kisses and hugs and everyone wanted to feed him his bottle. What a great day! He's a survivor, made it against all odds and we had the honor of helping him live and thrive.
Like I said, that night changed our life, in an incredibly positive way. First we acquired a 'friend' for JJ and than rescued several other lambs. We've taken in older sheep that were no longer wanted or needed by others. We love them all, they all have names and we now have approximately 30 sheep. We had to do a lot of temporary things, fencing, heated buckets, etc. but now we are in pretty good shape as far as a feeding, housing and ample grazing area for them. There is nothing more calming than to sit and watch our sheep, there is such a peace about them.....we love our sheep....I'm learning to felt their fiber when they are sheared in the spring and we always look forward to all of our new babies each year....and we still have an open door for lambs like JJ or older lambs that need a place to live out their lives......
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| This is JJ at three years old...he's quite the guy! |
