Leslie Kids

Leslie labored long before her kids arrived.

Yesterday our final dairy doe kidded, finishing off the spring 2012 kidding season for us. Miss Leslie had quietly been getting wider and heavier for some weeks, and when her time came I was lucky to have been able to hang close to her for the day. She was in labor for a good while before the first kid began to make an appearance. When her nose became visible, no little hooves accompanied it--although momma strained valiantly--so I intervened and helped deliver the first kid.

The alpacas listened and stayed close as she labored,
getting up to watch once the kids were delivered.

The appearance of Leslie's first doeling gave us cause for celebration, but no sooner had she cleaned the first kid off, than a second appeared. This little doeling was aligned correctly, but momma was tired so I pulled a bit as she pushed and out she came--another perfect kid.

Two beautiful doelings.

Both kids were pretty floppy that first day. When they rose to nurse, they were unstable and they seemed most steady "standing" on their knees. Although I saw each nurse and spent the afternoon with the dam waiting for the afterbirth to fully pass, the kids didn't have the strength I would have liked to see.

When morning came, both kids demonstrated evidence of "floppy kid syndrome," a phenomenon I had only read about before today but which is most aptly named. Unfortunately, even after being fed with a stomach tube, the second kid did not live. Although I have gotten used to allowing Nature to take the animals she chooses, in a season of female births, I was sorry to lose a promising dairy doeling.

The thriving kid, named Lorraine, is sleeping enough for two kids as she adjusts to her life outside the womb.