He may not meet the Jacob breed standard, and his horns may be a little funky…but he is a very special boy!
This is Ector with his mom, Holly.
Holly had a rough go shortly after lambing. She presented with symptoms of polio. After consulting with my vet, we believe she had low calcium levels, which caused her to have polio. He explained that polio was usually a secondary illness to another problem. Polio is the easy to say term for Polioencephalomalacia. Polio is caused by an inadequacy or depletion of thiamine. The symptoms are neurological abnormalities with a sudden onset. These may include incoordination such as a staggered walk, bumping into objects, and some will wander randomly, often in circles. Sudden vision loss may also happen. Unfortunately, this is what happened to Holly. In the morning she seemed fine, but by afternoon she had obvious problems. If left untreated, the animal can go down very quickly. The vet had me give her Thiamine twice a day along with oral calcium. She seemed better after a week of treatment, but her vision did not return. I have kept her in the barn in a pen that she is familiar with along with her lambs, but I hate keeping the sheep locked inside – nothing is better than fresh air and green grass! I experimented with turning them out and watching her to make sure she could navigate through the gates and pastures. She had a hard time for the first couple of days, but then I noticed something amazing. Her ram lamb never left her side and would call to her when she was lost!
He is always by her side, which is very different compared to before she had the problems. I used to call him, his sister, and Duchess the ‘Three Amigos’ because they were always together and never with their mothers. Quite the independent little buggers. His sister is still very independent, but he has become a momma’s boy…in a good way 🙂
I have been watching the relationship with fascination and I thought it was maybe just a fluke, until yesterday evening. I went out to bring the sheep in from the pasture and Holly got left behind the big group. Ector got caught up in the moment and ran to the barn with everyone else, I thought I was going to have to help Holly in, but then Ector stopped. He turned around and called and called for her. She could hear him, but was too far away to figure out what direction he was calling from. He tried one more time, then he ran over to her and started walking with her to the barn.
What an amazing thing to witness!
I noticed that she has some eyesight tonight and I am hoping it returns 100%. The vet wasn’t sure if it would after this long, but he suggested that weaning her lambs early may be a good idea. After seeing how much her ram lamb helps her, I know this would be a bad idea. He is her own seeing eye lamb 🙂
Be sure to check out all of the other Farm Friend Friday posts!
Stories from the Farm 
This is a wonderful story; thanks for sharing!
Thanks Amy! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
What a great story. Holly has her own little angel. I hope she makes a full recovery!
Me too Terri! I am pleased with the improvements I have seen over the last couple of days, so that gives me hope!
What a lovely story Shannon! Sorry tho’ that Holly’s had such a rough time. When I read the story it reminded me of Ringo last year who was always looking out for his sister – an incorrigible escape artist who marched to the beat of her own drummer and paid no attention to where the flock were. He was always checking up on her (from the right side of the fence) and bleating in distress until she was safely corralled with the rest of them (then he paid her no attention, being off doing boy stuff). Not quite to the level of a “seeing-eye” sheep but I think it’s pretty amazing how smart and nurturing Jacobs are
I can see Ringo doing that. He has such a nice temperament, a gentle guy. Willing to stand up for himself, but not one to start fights. Freedom sounds like a character!
It really is these small miracles that make life so much extra special! I just love how you see them, S! Thanks for sharing them with me.
Thanks for being here to share them with 😉
That is AMAZING! Wow, what a story and what a boy! Is he wethered yet? So cool to see the compassion in the animal kingdom, we could all certainly learn a lot here.
The animal kingdom has it’s moments of cruelty, but it can also be very compassionate. There are a lot of lessons we can learn!
This brought tears to my eyes, Shannon! Thanks. I just wouldn’t be able to part with him. I’d have to castrate him and keep him and call him “Hero”. I guess castration would be interpreted by him as a punishment however. 🙂
Wow Shannon. I would have had no clue that they would act this way. Ours always seem to have little need for mom outside of feed. What a moving story.
Well that brought tears to my eyes. Any chance he gets wethered and stays with his mother?
Wonderful story. What a smart lamb. I’ve had my share of problems this year and it has really shown me (up close and personal) how intelligent these Jacobs are. They understand so much more than we sometimes give them credit for. Very intelligent creatures. Thanks for sharing.
They are very intelligent indeed 🙂 Ector has a flock of crossbred girls waiting for him, so we won’t be castrating him. My suspicion is that once Holly’s lambs are weaned, she will regain her eyesight. Only time will tell! For now she has her wonderful son to watch out for her and he won’t be going anywhere for quite awhile!
How very special; thanks for sharing! Animals enrich our lives in so many ways….
Sorry about the sickness it is always hard to handle these things. I can’t wait to let my cows out in green pasture I love watching them run and run and kick up their heels. Soon OK a couple months but soon. B
what a great story.
We had a goat with polio, and while the eyesight took a *long* time to recover, he is functionally sighted (not sure if it’s fully sighted, but he can see enough to get around, eat, follow the other goats, etc). They do compensate very well with no eyesight though, so it is easy to think their eyesight is back when it really is not. We thought the goat had his eyesight back but his pupils were non-reactive, meaning he had no eyesight. Good luck with her! Thiamine supplementation and roughage should help!
This just made me cry. I too have witnessed the loving relationship between mom and baby. She certainly is a lucky mom. I do hope the treatments and time continue to help her recover.
This is the sweetest story and brought tears to my eyes. Animals never cease to amaze me–they surprise us over and over again. I would say he is a very special boy–a little guardian angel ram lamb 🙂
What a great little guy!
Shannon, Love the story, they are remarkable animals.
what will be the out come for Ector nd his Mom,,,will they be together forever or…………………………………………………….
Joy
I love this!