Win One of the Lambing Season Goes To.......Jennifer

Lambing season has started. Par for the course, it started on one of the coldest nights of the year. That morning I went out to check the ewes, lulled into a week of anticipating new lambs only to find nothing each morning. This morning was different. I walked into the barn, looked around the corner and saw them. Ewe 001 had a set of twins. At first glance it looked like the first set of lambs for the year was going to be a disaster, both were sprawled out in the straw and neither was moving.

001 was doing all she could do, she was working at cleaning them off and had them under the heat lamp. The temperature that morning was somewhere in the single digits so the heat lamp was really just a source of light. I inspected them expecting to confirm my worst fear that both had died shortly after birth. The first one I looked at was indeed dead, what a way to start the season off. I quickly moved to the second and to my surprise I felt him breathe ever so slightly.

Quickly I scooped him up and put him inside my coat and made my way to the house. Inside the door I called for help and the entire family mobilized. Jennifer took the rag doll lamb from me and Tatum immediately started hot water in the sink. Isaac put his chore clothes on and went out with me to look for more lambs. Thankfully there were no more. Ewe 001 met us at the gate and was quite confused and concerned about her missing baby. Isaac and I got her bedded down, disposed of the dead twin and finished outside chores.

I cautiously looked around the corner when I got back to the house, expecting the worst. Much to my surprise I saw the lamb sitting up draped in a towel in front of the space heater. He looked somewhat alert and a whole lot more alive than when I had last seen him. However, based on several years of bad experiences I knew we were not out of the woods yet.

Jennifer and Tatum told us about the lamb’s revival. His temperature had been about 92 degrees to start out with or about ten degrees from where it should have been. That is pretty cold and awfully near fatal. A dunk in warm water, followed by a hair dryer on his  belly, then more of the hot water bath and finally a comfy spot on a towel in front of the space heater. The lamb’s body temperature had risen to 99 degrees on its way to normal. Things were looking up.

We ate breakfast and formulated a plan to reunite the lamb with mama. During this time the lamb bleated and stood up, definitely a good sign. When the breakfast dishes were cleared Jennifer and I bundled up, wrapped the lamb up and made our way back out into the cold. As soon as we opened the lambing bard door the ewe was anxious to get her baby back.

This is where I must add a disclaimer. I am not nearly as good with baby lambs as Jennifer is, I simply do not have the patience she does. She reunited lamb and ewe and worked at getting the lamb to nurse. The lamb was still wobbly and groggy from its near death experience and would not latch on and nurse. The ewe was one of our older, calmer ewes and waited patiently.

We decided the need to get nourishment into the lamb was critical so Jennifer milked the ewe out while I help on to her head. We then used a stomach tube to quickly get the milk into the lamb’s belly and feeling pretty good about the whole situation retired to the house. The kids and I got ready for church and Jennifer staid back to watch over the revived lamb and check for other new arrivals.

Soon after church was over I got a text from Jennifer of a new set of twins born during church healthy and alive. She also commented that the lamb from earlier was doing well. When I got home I changed clothes and went out to observe the lambs. The second set of twins were alert and the first lamb was running around and wagging his tail. I am sure we will have low points during this lambing season, but it felt awfully good to start off with a win. Once in awhile, things do work out.

Jim Hildebrand, DVM and Great Man

This week marked a monumental, life changing event for me. No, I didn’t have a birthday, neither of my kids graduated and I did not change jobs. Dr. Jim Hildebrand, DVM, retired. Dr. Hildebrand was my vet, or more specifically my animals’ vet. Oh sure, we had used other vets, when Doc was fishing or otherwise detained, but that was a very, very rare event.  He is right at the top of my speed dial list.

To say that I had a long standing doctor/client relationship with Dr. Hildebrand would be an understatement. Jim and Callie moved to Wamego when I was two or three and my parents quickly became friends with the Hildebrands. Their son Gus and I were the same age and he was one of my oldest and best friends. We also went to church together, and  I am absolutely certain some of the older members of our church went to their graves not knowing for sure which one of us was which.

Many of my earliest 4-H memories include Jim. He had a gentle, comforting way of breaking the worst news in the kindest way. Little things like don’t give your Grand Champion rabbit penicillin because rabbits are deathly allergic (advise we should have sought out before the shot). Over the years he helped my 4-H projects overcome everything from warts to chronic bloating. I learned a lot about animal health and husbandry from him.

He, Gus, Dad and I spent many afternoons hunting or fishing and those were some of my greatest outdoor memories. Did I mention how patient Doc is? When Gus and I were in our early teens he decided to teach us how to fly fish. Teaching a teenage boy anything is difficult and teaching them how to fly fish should get you sainted. His success rate was 50% on that endeavor, Gus ended up being an avid fly fisherman and I got good at untangling knots.

My junior year of high school I acquired a bird dog. I was so proud of Dot that I took her everywhere with me. Then, suddenly she got sick. I made a frantic call to Dr. Hildebrand and took the comatose body of my puppy to him. He reassured me that he would do all he could and kept her at the clinic. The next morning he called me to tell me that she had made it through the night and might survive. She did survive and lived to the ripe old age of thirteen. Dr. Hildebrand was my hero.

Remember how I said he had a way of reassuring you and making everything seem OK. Well, there was one phone call that was different. The night he called me to tell me Gus had passed away and asked me to be a pallbearer was hard on both of us. Even then he and Callie helped all of us close to Gus deal with a loss like we had never experienced and move on with grace and dignity.

As a young rancher Jim helped me understand how to take care of my animals. No matter how frantic or stupid (most often both at the same time) my questions were, he gave me the answer using the wisdom of a country vet who had seen it all. Jim knew when to keep trying with a sick animal and when to show them mercy.

In recent years, my kids have leaned on Dr. Hildebrand for their 4-H projects and corresponding emergencies. He has guided them through broken legs, prolapses, nutritional issues and various other maladies that befall pampered 4-H show animals. He passed along bad news and good news in the same calm, soothing manner.

He has even inspired my son, Isaac, to want to be a vet. Isaac has spent many hours over the years working on vet science projects for 4-H with Dr. Hildebrand. Dr. Hildebrand always took just a little extra time to show Isaac what he was doing and how to do it. I am sure Isaac will be a big animal vet just like Jim; however, we are probably still 10 years or so away from that day.

Dr. Hildebrand has more than earned the right to spend his days doing anything but roping cows out of the back of pickups and delivering their calves out in the pasture. Maybe he will even have the time to re-teach a 40 something the fine art of fly fishing. I am sure the patient is still there and I am also sure the kind, down-to-earth advice is still there when I need it.  However, in the meantime I just have to figure out what I am going to do for veterinary emergencies between now and Isaac’s graduation.