Valentine Twins

A beautiful young first time mom had a set of ewe twins tonight. I'll have to call them Valentina and Sweetheart, or something like that. Yes, moms don't always pick the nicest, cleanest spot to drop their lambs. I always try to resist the temptation to jump in and clean them off right away, however muddy they are. Mom needs to lick them off herself to facilitate bonding. One twin is teeny tiny,just like my Bella. She's very spunky tonight, we'll see how she's doing tomorrow. We let three moms and babes out of the lambing pens into the maternity ward after shots and worming. There is always a lot of confusion when they are let into the group of moms and babies, with moms yelling for their babies who are testing their new limits. I sit cross legged on the hay, bottle feeding my little group of orphans, and supplementing the lambs who have moms but might be the less adored twin or the one who is crowded away from the one working teat, etc. That's what a shepherd does - always watching, anticipating problems, intervening when necessary...ever vigilant. Why do you think the Pope carries a shepherd's crook? We brought the poor frozen ducks into the barn. No more freezing outside under a roof that is about to collapse under the weight of the snow. They were so happy to get on a nice bed of hay, with grain and cracked corn just for them and a pan of water to play in. They immediately started grooming themselves and picking the ice out of their feathers. I love to hear their happy quacking! I'm going a bit quackers myself...