Naked deliveries

Well what an eventful day we have had here today!!!

We were supposed to be shearing this morning but with the rain shower yesterday and the damp night I did wander if the herd would be dry enough.

I was up at 5am and let the littlies out of their shelter to get a bit of breeze going through their fleeces after I had towelled them all slightly. I managed to delay James Dixon, our shearer, for an hour so they could dry out a little more.

The weanlings and the boys weren't too bad and by the time we were all set up they were dry, and once it was the turn of the girls they were fine too; with the exception of Irraquoy. As she does every year she managed to wee all over her fleece, despite us having the towel ready. In fact she went one better this year and did a number two as well.

About an hour after we had sheared Alice she showed signs of going in to labour and soon after there was a little nose poking out. Unfortunately the cria was stuck with one leg fully extended and the other only just poking out. Thankfully I attended claire Whiteheads birthing practical at the Futurity this year so I had a little more confidence at trying to correct things.

It was so tight and her contractions were so strong and close I struggled and came very close to calling the vet. I had to push the cria back in slightly to get enough room to get things into position, but I managed it in the end and he slid out nicely once I had corrected things.

Alice loves her baby dearly and is very protective of him, however, we seem to have an issue over feeding him - she won't let him do it. This has led to me having to milk Alice and give the poor little chap a bottle as she tries to kick him off when I try latching him on.

Here is a quick picture of Alice and her new son, who has yet to be named. I will give you more details tomorrow as I really do need to hit the sack, and there is still more to tell you.
We have also done a spot of mating, but again I will give you all the details tomorrow.