I was right on a few things. Kateri did have a girl, she is fawn and she is bigger than Victoria's baby. But just about everything else.... well it played out a bit different.
Our day started as usually, a walk to the barn to feed the moms. J tried feeling their ligaments and thought both Kateri and Victoria's were soft. We also tried taking their temp (there is a theory that their temp dips within 24 hours of birth). We weren't convinced of anything, but looking at Kateri, she looked so miserable and looked ready to birth. She seemed to be humming more than usual and her birth canal looked ready to pop open. We decided we would be checking on them a lot today and wandered home.
J went up by the barn awhile later to get the mail and found a baby in the poop pile. I was home cleaning and didn't hear him yelling. With a bad back he ran home yelling for me to come (something he has paid for ever since). He said he found a baby and surprise - it's Victoria's!!
I arrive at the barn to see this:
A beautiful baby girl :) She looks like Victoria, brown with black points. She seemed to be doing well, already sitting sternal, looking around, and alert.
We decided to name her Shelby (not what we had planned but seemed to fit her better), Victoria's Shelby.
While we were admiring her we could tell Kateri was close to birthing. Plus Victoria looked like she was about to birth the afterbirth. Both happened at the same time.
Kateri started to hum and out comes a nose then face, then we see the 2 feet. Cria was in the right position. We keep behind the gate, watching and waiting. It seemed like it took a long time but really the birth was short. I have pictures I may post another day of the birth. They aren't that graphic (I let my 5 year old watch the birth and my 8 year old has seen the pictures because she wasn't home at the time of the birth). But I'll put a disclaimer on that post in case anyone is faint of seeing those things.
Here is Kateri's baby right at birth (Kateri is smelling her for the first time):
We had no name for this baby at first, as it's a girl and we only had a boy names agreed upon. She was up in a very short amount of time and actually has seemed more alert all along than Shelby (but Shelby is doing great, both are tons better than Lightning was, that was a rough first birth for us and him!).
Here she is sitting sternal:
We think this one is fawn, maybe with some vicuna shading. J looked up a picture of Goldsmith (the father) and said he has similar coloring (darker on top and lighter on the belly). We wondered if she could possibly be a rose grey because she looked almost pink colored at birth. We might not even know her color until her fiber grows some (their color is what their fiber is right at the skin).
After much discussion we agreed upon Tehya for the name, it's American Indian for "precious". Kateri is American Indian for "Catherine", Kateri was an Indian princess. Her first baby (who is at South Haven Alpacas) is named Princess (she has won some impressive awards too!). We liked the princess and Indian theme, so tried to stick with that. Oh and Kateri's father is Tecumseh. Tehya seemed to fit with the family tree.
Birth Weights
Shelby = 14.6 pounds
Tehya = 15.6 pounds
Both moms are great, attentive and seem healthy. Both cria are doing great. Both stood within a short time of birthing and both nursed well within a short time of birthing.
No comments:
Post a Comment