This little lamb you see here almost died today, and it was scary. I mean really, really scary. You see, I normally feed the animals when I get home, after I let the dogs out. Today, I let the dogs out and saw that all the animals were fine so I went inside to eat the mango gelati David brought me from Rita's. After we ate our awesomely delicious Italian ices, we both fell asleep on the couch. I woke up about a half hour later and decided to feed the animals. I was getting something from the kitchen when I looked out the window and saw the electric netting fence moving. I thought it was just a chicken sneaking under or through it, but I looked closer and saw one of my ewe lambs tangled in it. Crap. Crapcrapcrap. I ran outside and hopped over the fence and knew immediately she was REALLY tangled. As in, choking and couldn't breathe tangled.
I grabbed the fence and started trying to untangle her, which wasn't easy because she was almost on her back and had one front leg wrapped around behind her head and in the fence. I was having a really hard time figuring out how to free her. I knew I couldn't yell for David because he was still sleeping and trying to wake him is like trying to wake the dead. I knew I couldn't take time to run inside and try to wake him up, so I just kept grabbing fencing and pulling. By this time the lamb had foam coming out of her mouth, along with a drop of blood. Crap. By the time I finally freed her (which was probably only 20 seconds but felt like a lifetime) she had stopped moving. I thought she was dead. I thought to myself, "Great, I just got her freed and it's too late. What are we going to do with a dead lamb? How are we going to dig a hole?" (we're having a drought) I layed her on her side and pushed on her ribcage pretty hard a few times, then shook her a little and massaged her throat. She finally started gasping for air. I sat down with her head on my lap thinking "Please, please breathe." After a few minutes she was ok enough to stand up, and then she stood panting so hard for a few more minutes.
She's ok now, but I really thought she was a goner. What if I had slept one more minute? What if I hadn't seen her in time? That was really scary. I left the sheep out grazing while I was at work today, but I definitely won't do that anymore until I'm sure the charger is working reliably.
But now that everything is ok, I wanted to share a video I made of the animals tonight. It's just a quick tour, and I apologize for anything dorky I may say. It's hard to think of what to say on camera!
5 comments:
Oh my gosh I would have had a heart attack. We had a horse get tied up in a METAL gate once and it was the longest minute of my life watching hubby get her out of it.
Nice tour of your farm -- what a nice idea too!
Oh katie! You had to have been so scared! I'm so glad you got her out just in time. Doesn't it figure that the one day you change your routine, that happens. You acted fast and saved her life because of it. She's a lucky lamb. Hopefully you can get that fence working soon so she won't try that again. Whew!
I LOVED your video!! I love seeing your animals and hearing you narrate. It makes me feel like you're there. Your animals look great. The ewe lambs are getting so big!
Oh my sweet Katie - you are so courageous! You acted so quickly and stayed with it until you got her out. I can't imagine how frightening that was. Way to go my brave girl!! She's such a gorgeous ewe lamb and I'm so glad you saved her! Your description of it was amazing - I felt like I was right there watching you!! Thank you so much for the wonderful video of the babies. I hate being so far away because they change so much so quickly. They all look wonderful and your shearing job was great! I love your farm and thank you so much for sharing it all with us! I miss it and want to come visit! Give them all a hug for me and thanks again for helping us feel like we're there with you. Love you, Momma Ps- I don't know how you take care of it all! Amazing!
So glad you rescued Darla's darling ewe lamb in time! All your lambs are so sweet, it would have been a tragedy lose her. Great video -- Your turkeys are gorgeous!
Holy cow Katie you are a hero! I can't imagine what was going through your head. You were on automatice pilot and everything was happening so fast. Nice work! I'm proud of you. Love you.
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