Thursday, August 28, 2008
Cria #2
Trying out the new legs
This morning we had our second cria! A boy this time and he came a week and a half early. We were expecting an early arrival as his mom, Olympia has done this 8 times before and has gone early every time. We did have a brief scare with this one as well, though.
We went out and thought Olympia was in labor only to see her deliver a perfectly intact placenta. Babies always come before the placenta so we went into panic mode and searched the field for a cria. When we couldn't find any sign of the cria Adam placed a phone call to our friends in Butler. As he was on the phone I noticed (for the 5th time) our dog, Rolo, sniffing under the feed shelf in the shed. Adam got off the phone and we frantically pushed the hay away to reveal the cria!
I was so worried it may be dead from hypothermia but Adam pulled it out alive, very wet, hungry and cold. He was stuck under the shelf for over an hour and he was too weak to nurse from his mom, so we had to supplement again. At least this cria knew where to go and how to do it, he just didn't have the energy. Our other cria had to be taught how to nurse. We could also easily get milk from the mom this time. It took the better part of the day to get his temperature up, but he seems to be doing well and nursing now. We are taking him to Butler tomorrow to have his blood drawn to determine if he needs a transfusion like Dandelion.
I have a limited number of pictures on my camera because my batteries went dead and I couldn't find new ones. Our friend Joe is here and he got a bunch on his camera. I will post some of those when I get them. We don't have an official name for the little guy yet, but it may end up being Lucian. He is all white with very bright, fine fleece.
Finally strong enough to nurse!
Rolo making sure everything is ok
All tuckered out.