Written by: Julie Dieck
Many who follow Christine’s Facebook page have probably read about the little “miracle lamb” that I raised a few years ago. White was crippled from the day of his birth, but he had the sweetest nature in the world; and here is a little backstory into the life of little White.
I must explain before I start that I raise a breed of sheep called Polypay (the only US originated breed); triplets and quadruplets are naturally common as they are specifically bred to have multiple births. I’ve had quads before and never run into any problems with mother or babies. As with anything, there’s always the chance of that one time when something doesn’t go quite right.
White was born on a very cold evening on February 18th, 2020 in a birth of quadruplet lambs. In fact, my friend Christine was there to witness it all. She had been wanting to see a sheep birthing so I had called her over as soon as I saw the ewe going into labor – which at the time was around 6:30 in the morning. Turned out there had actually been complications with the birth as the first lamb came breach (backwards). Unfortunately we didn’t realize it at first which caused the ewe to be in labor for ten hours. Christine even had time to run home to pick up her school books and studied at our house while we waited. When my dad got home from work at around 5:00 pm he helped the ewe birth by “pulling” the lambs. After the first, the next two came easy and we thought it was only going to be triplets. But a few minutes later, to our complete shock, a fourth surprise came and little White was born. I named him White because he was literally bleach white when he came.
Almost right away we realized that something was definitely wrong. While White’s two brothers and sister got up and started to walk around and nurse, he just didn’t seem to have the energy or ability to get up. He was the smallest newborn lamb I’ve ever seen; being only a little over three pounds I could wrap my hands around his middle and still overlap my fingers. Upon closer examination we found that his right shoulder bone dished inward, making both of his legs stick out slightly to the left which was why he couldn’t get up or walk. He also had a slight bow in his back, a crooked neck and jaw, and his left ear stuck almost straight down (and it never really did go all the way back up). We believe that he somehow got cramped in the back on the womb so he wasn’t getting all the nutrition he needed – explaining his malformation and small size.
The cold weather plus not able to nurse and being too vulnerable of getting stepped on by the mother and siblings, made it plain that he couldn’t stay in the barn, so we took poor little White inside the house. I cleaned him up and put him in a comfy little box of straw along with a heated rice sock (same as a rice bag, we just use an old sock instead) and wrapped him in an old dish towel to keep him warm. He was such a pitiful sight, so small and helpless and my heart just went right out to him. I was finally able to get him to drink a little milk and I had hoped that after warming up he would start moving around and be able to get up, but, as we feared, his shoulder prevented him from even being able to stand. And so, White became my very first “bottle baby” – a blessing and a curse all in one; but because of White’s need of me in order to survive and his sweet nature I think “blessing” won over all. The first night I slept on the couch with his box right next to me with an alarm set to wake me so I could feed him. Every four hours – morning and night – for three days I had to give him milk. I wanted to be near so I could hear him if he began bleating but Mom drew the line at me taking him to my room upstairs, saying she didn’t mind it in a box in the house but it had to stay downstairs. So since the lamb couldn’t come with me, I went to him and moved to the spare bed in the downstairs study – which worked very well.
White was a little fighter and somehow clung onto life and soon became alert and attentive like any lamb should, but just could get himself up on his feet. It was on the fourth day that my dad said I needed to make a choice. He said I could give him one more day to try and walk, but if he wasn’t at least standing by the next night, we would have to put him down as it would only be cruel to let him go on like this. I decided to give it one more day – one more try. I don’t think I ever went to bed that night; instead I spent it with White, supporting him as I helped him stand on the entrance rug. I just kept him up while he figured out how he needed to keep his balance with his twisted legs and shoulders. My mom remembers coming downstairs at three in the morning to find us still working at it.
I know God heard my prayers to give this little cripple one more chance that night, because when Dad came home from work the next day – White was walking. It was a stiff-legged sort of hopping walk that sort of made it look like he was galloping, but at least he was up. I even have a short video of it which I’m so glad I took. From that day on I became White’s mother and he would follow me around just like any lamb would follow its real mother. When the sun was out and the weather warmer, I would take him outside for short times for exercise and just slowly walk in a circle on the pavement and he would trot along right after me. I’m not just being funny when I say he honestly believed I was his mother and would bleat whenever he saw me after I had been gone for even a few minutes. I have to confess he totally had all my heart. I called him “my baby”.
(Click the link below to watch White learn to walk)
For a long while it was hard for him to raise his neck and would walk with his head level with his back, but later as he grew he was able to. His shoulder also straightened out some too and it did became easier for him to walk. I kept him in the house for as long as I possibly could and ended up having to give him a bigger box when he jumped out of the old one. But when he later escaped from that one and Mom came out to find him wandering around the kitchen, Dad said it was time that we move him outside permanently. For the first few days I would only take White out for short periods of time to get him used to the colder weather as they can get sick if you transition them too fast. Then I would leave him in the barn in a pen made of straw bales during the day and bring him inside at night. When he was finally moved out for good, I must say White was definitely NOT happy with the change at first, but gradually settled down in his new little pen we’d made for him. Although this was more work for me as I now had to go outside and all the way out to the barn every five to six hours to give him his bottle.
I remember one night in particular, and it is one of my favorite memories. It was around three in the morning and eleven degrees below zero when I had to go out. Often I would sit down in the corner of his pen while I fed him, and then I would stay for a little while just to give him some company and let him settle down as he would get SOexcited when he knew it was feeding time. And even after he’d finished he would still be all over me with his little tail going crazy. When he was done, I still stayed even though it was freezing, and I accidently fell asleep for nearly a half an hour. When I woke up, I felt something warm against my leg and found White had curled into a little ball right up against me and was fast asleep. It was the cutest thing ever! Okay, I confess I didn’t disturb him for nearly another half hour. I just couldn’t.
When he got bigger he figured out how to eat grain and drink despite his crooked jaw and I eventually let him out in the pasture with the other weaned lambs. He still followed me around and would follow as far as the gates would let him when I went back up to the house. We even have some videos of him and me playing tag out in the pasture. He was such a sweet boy and loved nothing more than to just get right up next to me for some love and neck scratches. He ended up growing into a little 80 pound ram lamb and I continued to bottle feed him all the way up until three days before he had to leave. Because of his malformed shoulder he had weak legs and as he grew heaver his knees began to buckle inwards, making it more and more difficult to walk. He preferred to simply lay down for most of the time and I was always so afraid he would get run over by the other bouncy lambs. It was apparent that soon he wouldn’t be able to keep up his own weight, and on August 3rd I was finally forced to say goodbye after six months of constant love and care.
Everyone says he was my “miracle lamb”, but in reality he was God’s “miracle lamb”. The Bible says that not even a sparrow falls which He doesn’t know about – the same applies for little lambs. It was only with God’s help along with my care that White survived, and I’m so grateful He heard me that night when He allowed a crippled little lamb to walk.
So that’s the story of White, the little miracle lamb; and I wouldn’t have traded the experience for anything. If there was one thing he taught me, it was to persevere on even when things are tough and to always have a loving heart. He may not have been perfect like the other lambs, but in his special way he was perfect to me. I have a little framed picture of me and White that always sits on my desk; and whenever I look at it and think about him, it always makes me smile. Even though there are still times when I miss him, I will always have the memories, and I’m so thankful for the time I was able to have with my sweet baby.
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