That Friday started early! Lambs were being born in the soft glow of sunrise. By mid-morning I had returned from the veterinarians with a barn cat that had just been neutered. I was eager to get back to check on the newborns. As I walked toward the barn, my attention was drawn to the back pasture where some un-bred ewes were kept during lambing. Startled to see three unknown dogs in that pasture I yelled at them. I ran towards the ewes that were in a woolly clump looking intently towards the fleeing dogs. My ewes were safe. As I opened the gate to let the "girls" into the pond pasture, my eyes caught the form of one ewe fallen along the fence line separating the two pastures. I ran to her. In horror I realized that it was Hope,, a ewe sold at a barn sale early in her life, going to an elderly farmer who wanted to raise sheep again. However when he became ill. she was returned to me. She was now back on her birth farm in her older years. Thinking she had not been bred, I had put her with the small flock in that fateful pasture.
The neighbors' yard man heard my cries for help and came running to give assistance. Hope had been severely attacked. I thought she was dead. He assured me that she was alive, even though he spoke another language. He helped me realize she was still breathing. My husband arrived home from work and found us in the midst of this confusion. He and the gardener loaded Hope into the wheelbarrow and we put her in the horse trailer. I crawled in beside her and held her bleeding head. The dogs had torn off one ear and part of the hide on her nose, ripped her throat and the top of her neck severely, and damaged the two legs on her left side. She had stood against the fence line for most of her attack. I must have arrived about the time she fell, for she had not been gutted!
I heard the last words of the vet ringing in my ears, as I traveled home with her on Sunday following the accident. "If she's not up in two days, Bev, put her down" He had sewn her up the best he could and sonogrammed her as well and found she was pregnant. Now knowing her added condition I felt it was my task to help keep her alive. But two days seemed such a short time. Her legs were bad and how could I get her up? (to be continued)
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The neighbors' yard man heard my cries for help and came running to give assistance. Hope had been severely attacked. I thought she was dead. He assured me that she was alive, even though he spoke another language. He helped me realize she was still breathing. My husband arrived home from work and found us in the midst of this confusion. He and the gardener loaded Hope into the wheelbarrow and we put her in the horse trailer. I crawled in beside her and held her bleeding head. The dogs had torn off one ear and part of the hide on her nose, ripped her throat and the top of her neck severely, and damaged the two legs on her left side. She had stood against the fence line for most of her attack. I must have arrived about the time she fell, for she had not been gutted!
I heard the last words of the vet ringing in my ears, as I traveled home with her on Sunday following the accident. "If she's not up in two days, Bev, put her down" He had sewn her up the best he could and sonogrammed her as well and found she was pregnant. Now knowing her added condition I felt it was my task to help keep her alive. But two days seemed such a short time. Her legs were bad and how could I get her up? (to be continued)
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