I have a rule about animals in my care: I am responsible for them. Life happens, and many things about animals are not controllable, but when an animal on my farm dies, or  I see a dead lamb lying frozen to the ground in our pasture, I begin wracking my brain. Was there something I could have done? Something I missed? Something I miscalculated?

Should I have built lambing pens, gotten them ready? In most cases, the answer is no, there is nothing I could have done, nature has it’s own ideas about the lives of animals. But animals are not just a joy and a pleasure, they are a responsibility 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I take it serious, so does Maria. It’s a simple rule, I am responsible for their care and everything that happens to them.