Say Hello To Our Newest Arrival

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The two girls who appeared to be in labor on Monday were just teasing me.  After a while they both settled down and still no cria from either one to date, but I bet it won’t be long.  I feel sure that our odd weather is having an effect on the girls; I do hope that it settles down soon so that they can deliver their crias before they get too large.

 

Our newest arrival though is anything but large.  She was born around 1 a.m. Saturday morning and we haven’t had a full nights sleep since she arrived!

 

This little girl weighed in at 13.5 lbs, a small cria and also a tired and weak one by the time she arrived.  Her dam tried to deliver her but she managed to get herself well and truly stuck and we ended up assisting with the birth.

 

We had been aware that her dam was possibly in labor late in the afternoon and so had been making regular checks to see how things were progressing.   Typically a dam that goes into labor in the late afternoon or evening will have a bad birthing presentation.  On what was going to be our last check at 12:30 a.m. I discovered the cria being presented but could only see one leg and two ears – not a normal birthing presentation.  I went up to the house and got Ric to come and help and we gathered our usual birthing supplies that we keep in a kit ready to go during birthing season.  I also made sure we had plenty of gloves and lube, as I knew we were going to have to assist with the birth.

 

When we examined the dam and cria we discovered that the crias left leg was bent back and her nose was tucked down and to the left resulting in her presenting the crown of her head to the birth canal.  I was able to free the leg, but was unable to maneuver the crias head so Ric had a try and manage to push the crias head back just enough to get her nose out through the birth canal.  The rest of the delivery was easy compared to getting the cria unstuck but naturally the dam and cria were both tired.

 

Having a cria born during the very early hours of the morning also presents another problem in that the cria needs to be dried off quickly and kept warm.  Armed with towels and a hair dryer we worked on drying off the cria while her dam took a well earned rest.  It always seems to take forever to get a cria dried, but eventually we got her dry enough to where we could put a cria coat on her and wrap her in blankets to keep her warm.  This little girl was most definitely not too thrilled about her introduction to the world and kept trying to curl up into a fetal position.

 

Our new little girl has started life with a few challenges.  Her dam was very sore following the birth and was not willing to let the cria nurse.  We were able to milk the dam out some and give the milk to the cria, but also ended up bottle feeding her some cattle colostrum for the first 24 hours.  The cria is now nursing off her dam, but needs supplementary feed to so we are giving her a bottle every two hours around the clock.  As each day goes on she gets a little stronger both physically and in her bond to her dam.

 

We did have a little set back with our new little girl when she started being lethargic and ran a temperature.  After consultation with our vet we have her on antibiotics, with her being so small the shots we are giving her seem miniscule, but they seem to be doing the trick and she has been more active since starting on them.

 

Of course we still have the job of giving her a name and as fragile she is and as much as she has hung on to life we really feel it needs to be something special, maybe as the gap between her bottles increases and we get more rest we will be able to think of something fitting for such a brave little girl.

 

Rosemary