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Introducing 'Princess Olalie Agate'. She came to us on Saturday morning. Her first-time mom Odanak did an amazing job. Her water broke around 7 a.m., that cria hit the ground at 728 a.m.
I am always pleased when things go as they are supposed to. As my friend Carol Karsten says, "Odanak clearly read the birthing manual". That cria came out feet first, mom and she bonded right away, which can be a concern with new moms. Her milk came in immediately - I believe the fact that we begin feeding our expecting moms an herbal lactation formula a month ahead of time that it helps.
Olalie is a white female with a few peachy spots on her. I was surprised by her markings as I thought her lineage was completely white. Her grandsire is Pachacuti, a direct import, her granddamme is Bonita Linda, also a direct Peruvian import. As I researched I discovered that Bonita Linda was a medium Brown female. Must be where the spots came in. Olalie's sire is StudMaster male K-2. We were excited when given the opportunity to breed to this fantastic male. I cannot wait to see what Olalie's fleece turns out like. So far, so good. But then again, she is only a day old. All cria fleece is amazingly soft.
Once Olalie hit the ground I began to dry her off. It was a damp morning here, clouds were low. In the mid 60's. I immediately took her temperature. She registered at 94 deg, so I ran into the house to get the hair dryer. My neighbor Lynn came over to watch the birth, so she went into action grabbing and setting up the heat lamps.
The text books say you need to have their temperature between 100 and 102 degrees for optimum colostrum uptake. I took that quite literally. After about 40 minutes of attempting to increase her temperature greater than 99.4, I called my vet.
Dr. Nicole should really charge for consulting. Everytime I have a cria, I swear I call her with silly questions. She is always so calm and understanding. I truly appreciate her experience. Anyway, Dr. Nicole stated that 99.4 deg should be plenty warm. We stopped all efforts to warm her and let Odanak and Olalie bond. I am so happy Odanak's mothering instincts kicked in. She is a great mom.
Once Olalie was up and walking, the next order of business was to record her nursing. Cria must take in the colostrum within 12 hours of birth to obtain maximum antibodies and boost their immune system. Once I saw Olalie up and trying to latch on in the general vicinity, I decided to back off and give the new mom some space.
I am trying to be 'hands off' when it comes to cria birthing. This is a method Farmer Steve and I decided on as at first we were very hands on with the births. We decided it was best for our moms if we were simply observers. Only stepping in when absolutely necessary.
After 6 hours of periodic observation, I hadn't really seen Olalie latch on and nurse. My mom, who came down immediately upon my phone call that Odanak was in labor, had stuck around all day to spend some time with me and help out as needed - and I went and haltered Odanak. Although I knew her bag was full, I wanted to be sure there was milk available. Once haltered I reached under Odanak to try and milk out the colostrum and rub it on her teats as well as Olalie's nose. Colsotrum is a very sticky substance, very different from the rich white milk. Once I had that colostrum from each teat, I knew it was available, but was not convinced that Olalie had gotten any. I called Dr. Nicole again. Did I mention she was pretty awesome?
Dr. Nicole indicated that she had run into 'closet drinkers' all the time. These are the cria and mums who simply nurse when no one is looking. As long as that cria was up and active, things would be okay. Dr. Nicole would be here the next morning to perform the neonatal exam, she will be fine until then. She was right. The cria was active and appeared normal. I calmed down, and just increased my watching. Sure enough, around 6 pm I found her latched on, as if she had done it many times before.
The neonatal exam indicated heart, lungs, and gut sounds were all normal. Her one floppy ear would straighten out, she was up on her feet strong legs, straight tail. Her bloodwork indicated she has gotten plenty of colostrum. Welcome to the world Olalie!
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