We call her “crooked neck.” Creative I know, but she already recognizes it, so we hate to add more trauma to her life by changing her name on her. She was born on a really cold night and she was a twin (her baby brother didn’t make it). Dad was convinced an hour or so after we brought her into the house she would never stand or nurse on her own. He told me to put her back outside with her mama until he could “take care of her.” I cried all the way out to the pen carrying her. Mom was outside and told me not to give up yet. My dh got in the pen with me and we held mama (who is the meanest sheep I’ve ever encountered in my life) and held her little head up so she could nurse. Right then and there we agreed we would do whatever it took to ensure she was given a chance to live. Dad agreed if Randy and I would hold the mama and work with her every night and supplement a bottle she could stay. She can now nurse on her own and runs with all her might.
No matter how bad a day it is for any of us. We can go out there and see her crawling through panels and running as fast as she can to get to us and it makes everything better. She even comes up on their front porch sometimes to visit. We ALL love her and don’t know what we would do without her there.
On a sad note, animals are similar in how they treat others who are different. When CN crawls through the panels of her pen with her mama and the other babies she enters the pen with mamas without babies. They all crowd around her and butt her with their heads until she falls on the ground. She just picks herself up and runs as fast as she can to get to us. The other little lambs don’t play with her either, so she just hangs out by herself or with her mean mama for protection. We had another bottle baby, Bottles, (we are so creative with names, aren’t we) who was different and it was the same scenario. No one would play with him so he just stood out in the lot by himself. He didn’t even have a mama for company or protection. Good thing they have us
Dad swears that if every lamb was born with a will to live like she has he would be the richest sheep farmer who ever lived. We all agree!
A Simple Prairie Life 