Surprise Arrival!!

Well I have sat here waiting for Millie our Jack Russell to have her puppies, she is rather large and due today.

But I had another arrival which was a total surprise!!  On Monday I weaned last years babies from their mums (see photo below) I had decided to keep the weanling's in the the paddock next to the barn, where I can get them in at night and give them there supper and give them a fuss, they have settled well and several of them have become very friendly and come up for a kiss (although we do have one little boy that spits at me rather than kiss me, thank goodness its just air he is spitting, naughty boy!!)

And I put the mums into our top far field, and the boys came into the big field between the weanlings paddock and the girls field.

Well the idea was we didn't have any girls due until next month, so they would be fine up in the top field for a couple of weeks and then come back into the main field at the beginning of April, by which time mum and weanling should have adjusted to being parted.

But things had to change very quickly this morning!!  At 7.30am I had done my usual feed round and everyone seemed fine.  I came back in to have breakfast.  At 8.30 I happened to glance up to the top field where the girls are, and I could see one of them going around in circles looking behind them!!  I could see it was a brown Suri, getting the faithful binoculars out I could see it was Bonnie and something was hanging out the back.  Well she is not due until next month!!

So here was the problem, it was very cold and breezy out there so I knew somehow I would need to get her and the cria back down into the barn, but needed to move the boys out of the main field so I could let all the girls back into the main field which adjoins the barn.  So I quickly got the quad out, got the birthing box ready and went out to round up the boys into one of the smaller paddock.  As I drove up the field I could see there was now a bundle on the floor and all the girls were gathering around to have a look.

Luckily the boys were quite obliging and went straight into the small paddock, by the time I got to the top field the cria was already sat up! what a strong cria.  It was quite cold and breezy up there so I stepped in straight away and gave her a brisk rub with the towel, sprayed the cord, put a rug on her and checked the sex, it was a gorgeous chocolate colour GIRL! a very strong girl, not showing any prem signs, her teeth had erupted, her ears were erect and she had no signs of flipper feet.  It was just 15 minutes from when I noticed Bonnie going around in circles and the cria on the floor, yet an hour earlier there was no signs of a cria arriving!!

I carried the cria down on the quad, and Bonnie being a devoted mum didn't take much encouragement to follow me down.  I left them to get acquainted in a nice warm stable with a lovely straw bed. 

Within the hour she was up and seeking the milk bar.

What a strong and clever girl for finding the milk bar so quickly, especially with all the fleece to contend with! I hand to lie on the floor to check she was feeding ok, not a problem there.

What a lovely way to start the birthing season off, a strong, healthy little girl even if she took me by surprise!!

Now I will need to keep a close eye on Bonnie's best friend Cleo who gave birth within five minutes of Bonnie last year and they both ended up attaching to the same cria!!  Although there is no signs yet of her giving birth (or shouldn't I say that after my surprise this morning!)

And also back to waiting for Millie to deliver her pups.  More up-date on that when it happens