Lamb born on Valentine's Day has a distinct mark on its head
MOBILE COUNTY, Ala. (WKRG) — An Alabama cattle ranch welcomed a newborn lamb on Valentine's Day — and it showed.
In a Facebook post, the C-4 Cattle Co., a family-operated Texas Longhorn Ranch based in Grand Bay, noted that the lamb has a special marking on his head: a white patch of hair that looks like a heart.
"How perfect!?!" the company wrote.
According to ranch owners, the lamb was one of a set of twins, but was the only one with the marking. The other twin reportedly "looks nothing like him," they said.
Ranch owners are looking to name the baby lamb with the heart — what else? — "Valentine" in the spirit of the holiday.
The birth of the twins makes their mother, Chocolate Milk, a first-time mom.
Valentine and his brother, to be named Cupid, are registered Katahdin flock, according to owners.
"Katahdin sheep are a breed of hair sheep developed in the United States," Oklahoma State University's website explains. Hair sheep shed their wool rather than needing to be sheared.
"The Katahdin breed originated at the Piel Farm in north central Maine, where Michael Piel was an innovator and amateur geneticist who enjoyed raising livestock," OSU stated on its site. "His first intentions related to establishing a sheep enterprise were to use sheep to graze power lines instead of spraying or mowing the vegetation. He then developed other ideas on how to employ sheep for land management."
In 1985, Katahdin Hair Sheep International was incorporated as a breeders' association, according to OSU's site.