Alleluia, the Lettuce and the Lamb Live!

Yes! Even though it got below zero the other morning--it dropped another degree after I wrote this post--the layer of snow on top of the windows covering the lettuce was apparently enough insulation and the lettuce survived.

I was so happy.

Tonight we're supposed to get anywhere from 3-8 inches of snow, which is good because then tomorrow night it will be single digits again. So the baby lettuces should be okay with their snow blankie on them.

The other baby that will need protection from this storm is the lamb that was born yesterday morning.

Yup, time to update the Current Lamb Count! But first, the story.

Yesterday morning before church, A. went out to feed the animals and discovered a just-born ewe lamb in the neighbor's pasture where the sheep have been grazing (with permission, yes). She looked healthy, but she wasn't getting up to nurse and there's no shelter in that pasture. It was right around freezing, but the wind was picking up and the lamb was just too cold to get a good start.

A. didn't want to take her from her mother, because that makes it harder for the bonding between the baby and mom to get established. He didn't think he could move the mother all the way back to the shed by our house without her getting upset about being too far from her flock.

So he stuck the lamb inside his own wool coat. She quickly responded to the warmth and tried to kick him. He put her down, she stood up, and the mom came over to lick her. A good sign, but the lamb soon went down again. A lamb on the ground can't nurse. If it can't nurse soon after being born, it will die.

Right about this time, I had to leave with the children for church--Cubby is the only altar server at our church, so it's kind of important for him to be there--leaving the shepherd with his lonely vigil.

When we got back around 9 a.m., we heard the rest of the story. A. had continued to put the lamb in his coat to warm it, but she kept having trouble once she was exposed again. He eventually had the idea to make a hot water bottle out of a mason jar and wrap the lamb in his coat with that. Then he left the lamb in the pasture with her mom and came inside himself.

As he explained it to me, it's important to do what you can and then step away and stop messing with the lamb. Intervention causes stress for both the lamb and the mom.

When he went back out twenty minutes later, the lamb had gotten out of the coat on her own and was following her mom around. By the time we got back from church, she was nursing and looked just fine.

A. will move the sheep into the pasture with Samson for the duration of the coming snow event so he can put the lamb into the old pig pen there for shelter, and all will be well.

So. Current lamb count: 2--two girls, no boys, and who knows how many sheep left to deliver.