This is a story from last year but I thought I would share it so that others can see what is part of the process that we can sometime go through. While most of our animals eventually become food for us or others, we go to great links to save their lives and to give them the most love that we possibly can.
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February 26th, 2022
What a scary morning! I went out at 2am and again at 8 to feed the newborn sheep. This momma sheep doesn't usually do a good job with nursing and caring for her babies, but I'm always hopeful that she will switch into mom mode and do a good job. At 8am the little ram wasn’t acting right but he really just acted like he didn’t want to eat so I thought maybe he had been nursing some and just didn’t want the bottle. I did some errands and came back to check on them and feed them again at 11:30 and his little body was cold and listless.
What a scary morning! I went out at 2am and again at 8 to feed the newborn sheep. This momma sheep doesn't usually do a good job with nursing and caring for her babies, but I'm always hopeful that she will switch into mom mode and do a good job. At 8am the little ram wasn’t acting right but he really just acted like he didn’t want to eat so I thought maybe he had been nursing some and just didn’t want the bottle. I did some errands and came back to check on them and feed them again at 11:30 and his little body was cold and listless.
We raced both babies into the house and instantly started warming him. I put him inside a plastic garage bag with his head sticking out and put him in a hot bath. He was tanking quickly and we made the decision to take him out of the bag and submerge his whole body up to his neck. I know a lot of people frown on this but we felt desperate and the bag didn’t seem to be working. After about 30 minutes we took him out and dried with towels and a hairdryer. His sister came in to check on him and laid down next to him, like she needed to help him. She put her face and body next to his but left her booty sticking straight up in the air. She wouldn’t lay down completely. After we got him warmed up some more and saw a bit of life coming back we got a microwaveable stuffed animal and put that next to him and wrapped him in an electric blanket. He and I sat on the couch for the next 2 hours, working on warming him more! What a relief when he started moving his head to look at me and started moving his legs like he wanted to stand.
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This was an “all in” moment! It took lots of hands and several hours to save this sweet boy! It’s amazing because when they were born yesterday morning, he was the stronger of the 2 and his sister appeared weak and frail. What a difference 24 hours brings! His sister is a spitfire! She eats like a champ and is very energetic.
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It was a long day of “wait and see”. I spent most of the day on the couch with Finn in my lap, covered in heating pads, electric blankets and microvwable stuffies. He would get warmed up and have energy and want to move around but after an hour he would start to go back down hill. Electrolytes and NutriDrench were his best friend because he didn’t want to eat much.
At 3am I got up to check on both of them and he gobbled down several ounces. At 8am he ate another 5oz and 2 hours later he took another 6!! We were so grateful with how well he is doing and felt like we were finally starting to get out of the woods.
We will NOT be putting them back out with their mom. While we had big hopes for her this time, she seemed like she was going to do a good job. She acknowledged them and cleaned them, unlike her baby from last year that she completely abandoned. Now she just seemed very aloof and was standing with her rear in the corner so they couldn’t really get to her to nurse. For the next several weeks they were in a large caged area in the corner off my kitchen. This kept them warm and safe but also make it easier for feedings.
I'm not goin to lie, I love when I have sheep in the corner of a room. It's so much fun to see their excitement when we walk in there to give them lovings.
I'm not goin to lie, I love when I have sheep in the corner of a room. It's so much fun to see their excitement when we walk in there to give them lovings. |  |
Once the babies were strong enough, we got them outside with the other sheep for introductions for short periods of time. They loved the snow and bigger spaces and were running around and jumping all over the place like a young kid who was in the first snow of the season.
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Finn got big and strong and went on to a new farm with a new group of ewes for him to love and chase. He was a beautiful little ram with a will to live and a strong desire to be loved and cuddled. We gave him everything we had in rescuing him and getting him back to health, just as we do with all our animals. Animal husbandry doesn't always have a happy ending, but in this case, we had a great outcome!
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