Johnny’s Birth
My parents were shepherds. My dad also had an Ace Hardware store. Twice a year my mom and dad would go to hardware shows where they would purchase specialty merchandise for the upcoming months. When my parents were away it was my responsibility to watch the farm and tend to the sheep. This particular time it was the spring show they were attending. It also happened to be spring lambing season.
There was one ewe left who hadn’t had her lamb yet. When my dad got back from lunch, on the day they were leaving for the hardware show, I asked if she had lambed-nope. This meant I was going to be the shepherd on call for the last lamb.
I closed up the hardware store, picked up my girls from the after school program and as we drove to the farm, I prepped them for what was going to happen-I was going change clothes, we were going to the barn to feed the sheep and to see if there was a new lamb.
We got to the farm, got everything ready and went to the barn. The girls got there ahead of me and as I walked into the barn I heard one of them say “What’s that?” I looked and it was the nose of a lamb being born. I told them to keep watching because they were going to see a lamb be born. I quickly went to the cabinet and got a couple of towels. I got out my Swiss Army knife and opened the scissors so I could cut the umbilical cord after the birth. I got the iodine to put on the umbilical cord. As I was getting the supplies ready I heard one of the girls say, ” thats a lot of blood.” I knew then the birth had occurred and they had seen it.
I let the mom clean off the lamb. I then dried it with a towel and cut the umbilical cord and got Iodine on the cord stub. I made sure both teats had milk flowing and then waited and watched to make sure the lamb nursed. After the excitement and the miracle of birth, I made sure mom had food and water. Then I fed the rest of the flock.
As we drove home the girls were very concerned about what name the new lamb was going to have. (The rule is that if you keep the lamb for a breeding ewe, you can name her. If the lamb is going to go to market you do not name the lamb-no sense in getting attached.) The lamb was born on march 23. The girls were attending John XXIII Catholic school. They decided the lamb should be called “John XXIII who was born on March 23rd.” When I told my parents, my dad decided that the name was a little too long and a little too Catholic for him, (an Episcopalian.) They kept the ewe, named her Johnny, and tagged her number 23. She proved to be a good mom and had several lambs over the next few years.
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