You know it always happens when it’s cold and wet, and nobody’s home! Birthing that is. We keep pretty good records of our breeding procedures, so we try to plan birthing when it is convenient for us and we can be there. However Mother Nature has a way of laughing at your plans. Our first set of twins this year came right on time, we planned them for spring break, so we could “help” the momma’s out. On the last day of school, just as I got home, we had birth. Zoe is a first time momma, she was pretty scared. We were hoping that the veteran moms would help her out and show her the ropes. As we observed from a safe distance, it was noted that she was handling the little doe well, but was not working with the buck. She would pick him up by the tail and fling him away. Amazingly, Hershey the llama would have no part of this. Hershey is a jewel, he took the little guy under his wing, or in this case under his belly and protected him. It quickly became an issue of feeding, Hershey could not complete this task. As per usual, we have a kid in need of three a day bottle feedings. Each year we foolishly believe that we will have all mommas feeding and caring for all babies. And each year we end up with at least one baby on the bottle. So this is our bottle baby this year.
Yesterday was a cold and rainy day, so it only makes sense that Ellie Mae should deliver. As I arrived home and did my usual check of the herd, I noticed there were two new babies. We had another set of twins! The first born was up and teetering on her wobbly legs. The second was not as strong at this point, she was still wet from birth. Our little girl was sitting in the rain and shivering. Quickly I scooped her up and got her in one of the houses into some dry straw. Upon closer inspection, it became apparent that her back leg was not operating properly if at all. As I checked her over it seemed all of the bones were intact, but her back leg was bending in the wrong direction at the knee and ankle. The first order of business was to make sure she would eat, then we could deal with the leg. For about the next hour I sat with our new family unit to make that the mechanics of eating and cleaning were working between mother and daughters. Once that was satisfied, we had to deal with the leg. My husband and I got her up and worked the leg around. It did not seem broken just not right. We decided to wrap it to stabilize the leg. Now what to do in the long run. Ok, our little girls need colostrum, THE most important thing, and they need rest. We decided to let them rest and recheck in a couple of hours. Upon the late evening check, she has a full belly and is resting comfortably. Fast forward this morning, our little precious is up on three strong legs, eating and adorable. We are checking with our vet to see the next step.