Carrie Underwood posted a “timeline cleanse” to Instagram on March 16 that had her 13.4 million followers stopping mid-scroll, two tiny orphan lambs, bottle in hand, and a caption that didn’t pretend any of it was easy.
“We adopted these 2 little orphan lambs,” she wrote. “We named them Magnolia (Maggie) and Murray. These mornings are so precious. It took a few days for them to willingly take the bottle… I’m still working on him. Trying to be a good mama to these babies!”
The post got 37,000 likes. But it was the honesty in those few sentences, not the cuteness of the photos, though the cuteness was considerable, that made people stop and pay attention.
Scared animals don’t take bottles right away. Trust takes time. Underwood, who has been running a 400-acre farm in Franklin, Tennessee for over a decade, knew exactly what she was documenting, not a highlight reel, but the real, patient, unglamorous work of caring for two very small creatures who had lost their mothers and had no particular reason to trust the person holding the bottle.
She showed up anyway, every morning, until one of them did. She’s still working on the other.
A follow-up post the same week, promoting American Idol with the caption “Hey kids, ‘ewe’ better not miss @AmericanIdol tonight!” confirmed that her sense of humour about all of it remains completely intact.
Meet Maggie, Murray, And Jamal
Maggie and Murray are the latest additions to what has become a genuinely substantial farm operation.
The Franklin property, purchased in 2011 for $3 million, spread over 400 acres, has its own lake, orchard, chicken coop, multiple barns, private horse stables, and a 16-foot by 28-foot greenhouse that Underwood and her husband, former NHL player Mike Fisher, installed in 2023 to grow produce year-round.
The freezer runs on things Fisher has hunted, the pantry runs on things Underwood has grown, fermented, pickled, or canned. Apples, peaches, berries, mandarins, limes, watermelons, blueberries.
Hard apple cider from the orchard. Mead from their own honey.
The animals, which consist of chickens, donkeys, cows, sheep, have been part of the farm for years.
Last May, Underwood introduced a lamb who had been born on the farm on the same day as the American Idol Season 23 finale.
She named him Jamal, after Season 23 winner Jamal Roberts. “It would only be right if we named him Jamal!!!” she wrote at the time. Maggie and Murray now join him.
What Did Commenters Say About Underwood’s Post?
Fans in the comments were predictably melted. “Well if this isn’t the sweetest way to start off a Monday, I don’t know what is!” wrote one.
“Those lambs have no idea… they just won the lottery!” wrote another. “You are a good Mama to them!” Others simply wrote: “I could watch this all day. So sweet.”
One commenter who had clearly been here before offered a longer note, “Bottle babies are the best! Love all of mine. Many of mine have their own babies now… it’s so fun to watch generation after generation and it all began because someone loved them first.”
The Full Circle
Carrie Underwood grew up in Checotah, Oklahoma, population roughly 3,500, in a family that farmed. She left at 21 to audition for American Idol, won the fourth season in 2005, launched one of the most decorated careers in country music history (eight Grammy Awards, more than 85 Billboard number ones), toured the world, played Las Vegas residencies, and eventually bought a farm near Nashville.
She has said, with evident amusement at herself,
“I make the joke now that it’s like, I grew up on a farm in a really small town, go try out for American Idol, go all over the world, go on tours, make albums, do all this stuff, just so I could buy a farm and go back to the farm and live on a farm in a small, little town.”
Now she is back on a farm, in a small town, bottle-feeding two orphan lambs before the sun is fully up.
She is 43 years old, she is one of the biggest-selling country artists of her generation, and she is trying to be a good mama to two babies who are just starting to trust her.
She’s still working on Murray. But she’ll get there.
Carrie Underwood’s Connection To Animals
Underwood’s connection to animals has always been genuine rather than performative. In 2009 she established the C.A.T.S. Foundation, named for Checotah Animal, Town, and School, which has funded spay and neuter services for more than 37,000 animals through partnerships with shelters in her hometown.
The foundation has been running for over 15 years. The orphan lambs are the latest, most visible expression of something that has quietly been part of who she is for a long time.
She is currently in her second season as a judge on American Idol, the show she won 20 years ago, alongside Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan.
She has said the judging role, with its more predictable schedule compared to touring, gives her more time on the farm, with her sons Isaiah and Jacob, and with the animals she is responsible for.
The timing, as she put it to Las Vegas Magazine, “did work out beautifully.”
On the morning of March 16, Carrie Underwood fed two orphan lambs their bottles and posted a video of it to Instagram. The internet, for a few hours on a Monday morning, felt slightly better about everything.
