Lil’ Bill, the tiny bull with a big following, has died.
The calf, believed to be the smallest bull ever to survive birth, died Tuesday, Mississippi State’s College of Veterinary Medicine announced through its Twitter account. Lil’ Bill lived 213 days after being born at 7 pounds, 14 ounces, about the birth weight of an average human baby.
MSU tweeted the news of the calf’s death Tuesday afternoon along with a photo of Lil Bill and his primary veterinarian, Dr. Gretchen Grissett. “It is with heavy hearts that we announced the passing of Lil’ Bill, who succumbed to organ failure as a result of a significant infection,” the tweet reads.
Since his arrival at MSU at four days old, Lil’ Bill quickly attained celebrity status, with each social media post on his progress attracting thousand of views and comments.
From the outset, the calf had serious medical issues associated with his abnormal birth weight — roughly one-eighth the weight of a typical beef calf.
“To be honest, it’s a wonder he survived at all,” Grissett said in a December interview not long after Lil’ Bill’s arrival. “The odds were stacked against him. They still are.”
Upon arrival, the calf had serious issues with lung development and gastrointestinal issues and bone development.
Grissett remained guardedly optimistic.
“With premature babies, you overcome one issue and have two more coming. We really don’t know how things will play out,” she said in December.
Earlier this month, when Grissett was again interviewed for an update on the calf, Lil’ Bill had continued to show progress. He had quadrupled his birth weight — to 34 pounds — although he still weighed considerably less than the typical calf of that age (500 pounds).
But issues remained.
“He’s still having some digestive issues,” Grissett said then. “He may never be entirely normal in that area. But considering where he was when he arrived here, he’s done remarkably well. I don’t know if he’ll have a normal life span because of all his issues. But if I’ve learned anything from Lil’ Bill, it’s that you can never tell with him. He’s already beaten some pretty big odds.”
On May 21, the Vet School tweeted that Lil’ Bill had encountered some complication and had been returned to round-the-clock care.
Tuesday, after beating the odds for almost seven months, the odds caught up with the little bull with the big following.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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