As some of you know, our Alpine doe Hannah with severe dry mastitis was bred. Yesterday she was on day 148[I think, numbers confuse me
]. Well, I was watching CSI with my mom last night at about 9:00. I decided to blow away a few minutes, miss some CSI, and go check on Daisy, who was on day 150, and has been showing signs for a week and a half. I walk in the stall with Daisy, nothing going on with her. So I peek in at the stall next door where Stella and Hannah are. I see Hannah laying down, goo on the bedding, and feet sticking out! :leap: So I rush and check on her, go get mom, move Stella in with Daisy, get towels, flashlight, etc. I was very surprised, just 4 hours before this, I noticed she had lost her appetite, so I took her out, made her jump on the stanchion, poked her with some Vitamin B12, and trimmed her feet because they looked a little long! I feel so bad, I wouldn't have done that if I would have known. She was not swollen one bit, she had her ligs, wasn't sunken in, wasn't pawing, nothing. Well, back to the birth. She had a somewhat hard labor, lots of loud screaming. At first all I saw was one foot, I got scared, then I saw 2 feet and no head, very scared. This was only my 3rd kidding. Then I see a little nose.
ray: She gets down to some hard pushing. Out pops a kid! The whole thing took about 20 minutes. Looks just like Hannah, chamiose[sp?]! I try and check the gender but it is so gooey I have to keep cleaning. I try again. IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!! :girl: :dance: :leap:
:lol: :clap: :angel:
:wave:
arty: YAAHH!!!!!!!!!! She is the most adorable thing ever! We left the cutie with Hannah for the night. Bt after talking to the buck's owner, we decide it is time for a seperation. I REALLY wanted a bottle baby this year, I wanted her to be friendly, which I have found is hard to do with non bottle fed Alpines, and Hannah's udder doesn't look very good. So I cleaned up a chicken pen. [It is a very safe, 4'x3' tall pen in the garage, which will house the cutie for a few days.] Took the two chicken tenants out and moved then, cleaned out the chicken poo and bedding and put a bunch of straw in there. So then came the hard part. Hannah's teat is leaking, so I can't put another doe in the stall to keep her company. So we took our wether, Simon who is her best friend, put him in the stall, gave Hannah a bunch of grain, and I snach the little cutie. I felt bad, but it was best for me, mom, and baby. Baby is content in her chicken pen, she is not enjoying the bottle too much, but with a little coaxing, is getting better. We are certainly keeping this one. Haven't thought of a name yet though. Between our two kiddings, this one and the one from Daisy last year, we got 3 does and 0 bucks! We are on Cloud 9! That probably cursed us with bucks though.
Her back legs are a little crokked, but that is getting better. We have two more does left this year. I will post pics tonight. I will also enter her in the Kutest Kid Kontest. Hannah completly forgot about the baby, the only unhappy one is Simon, he isn't enjoying ''Jail in the Kidding Pen''.
Ashlyn
Ashlyn