Into the shepherd's arms....

It was a pretty typical spring storm in Iowa: the wind was bending the trees to the point of breaking, the rain was hammering down in sheets, interspersed with bits of hail, and arcs of lightening lit up the sky. It was evening, and it was beginning to get dark - I knew that the lambs had to come in to the barn to get out of the storm.... Cold rain is not good for young lambs, and several years ago, we lost a lamb in a lightening storm - I certainly didn't want a repeat!

Most of the lambs had come in when the storm first began, but a few of them had gone to graze in outlying areas earlier in the day, and now couldn't get back on their own. So, there I was in my yellow slicker, trying to bring the lambs home for the night. The first one that I noticed had obviously crawled under the seven-wire fence and was grazing with the rams. Jake had figured out how to get to the 'greener pastures' on the other side of the fence, but now couldn't figure out how to get back. I quickly turned off the power to the ram's fence, hopped it to pick up Jake, then came back over it with Jake in my arms. It seemed easier to carry him to the barn than to get one of our herding dogs out in the storm to teach Jake how to cooperate with a dog - a lesson better left for a calmer day! When I got to the paddock at the barn, Rick opened the gate, and I set the ram lamb on the ground to run into the barn. One down, and five or six lambs to go....

Next came the group of lambs who had crawled under the west pasture fence into what we call the Rock Pasture. I was hoping that all I had to do was to open the gate adjoining the two fields and the lambs would be smart and run for the barn. The rain and hail was now really pelting me, and although the slicker was keeping my sweatshirt dry, my sweatpants were soaked through, and I was getting cold.

As I opened the gate that I hoped would bring the lambs in, I realized that Gianna and her daughter, Jezebel, were two of the sheep in the rock pasture, and rather than come back up to the barn, Gianna slipped back under the fence to the timber where her fellow flockmates were riding out the storm. That was fine for her, but Jezebel followed her into the timber.... I would have to find her later. There were still three other lambs in that same rock pasture who I had to bring in - and this time, I couldn't just carry them!

As I walked into the middle of the pasture, with one lamb to the west, and two more in that same field to the south, I was trying to figure out how to get all three moving towards the barn. I was afraid that the single lamb who had been grazing with Jezebel and Gianna would try to follow them into the timber. And as I walked towards him or her, that was just what he/she was trying to do!

Then, I noticed that this lamb was pretty small in comparison to our other lambs.... And it was wearing a new, white coat - I had just yesterday changed Jareau's coat for a new, bigger one. I wondered, could this be my little Jareau - the bottle lamb who, at one point, would come to the sound of my voice calling her name? As I walked, I began to call Jareau in the high-pitched call that I had always used to call her for her bottle, hoping against hope that maybe it would convince this little lamb not to take off for the timber in this nasty weather.....

Believe it or not, it worked! Fighting my own disbelief, I continued to call, and not only did Jareau stop trying to find a way under the fence, but she also turned to look in my direction. As I called again and again, she began to run as fast as her little legs could carry her in my direction! When we met in the middle of the rock pasture, she was so excited to see me that she was like a gleeful pet dog, jumping up on me and rubbing her soggy head against me - all she wanted was for me to pick her up!

I popped open my slicker and tucked her under as much of it as I could manage, protecting her from the worst of the downpour, while she nibbled on my chin and nose - Jareau was obviously happy to be at least partially out of the storm. Now, I had to shift my attention to the other two lambs to the south.... As I began to walk towards them, the oldest of the two suddenly realized that I had opened the gate that stood between them and the barn. All it took was for me to give them a little incentive to get moving (by walking towards them), and the two ram lambs took off for the barn, with Jareau and me bringing up the rear.

It wasn't long before all of the lambs were safe in the barn and out of the nasty weather. With all of the lambs warm and dry for the night, I headed for the house, reflecting on all that had just happened. It still amazes me that even weeks after her last bottle, little Jareau heard her name, knew that it signalled an end to her misery in the cold, and came running to me for help. This is just another one of those stories that makes the tough parts of what I do completely worth it.