June's Babies

Yesterday when I fed the animals at 4pm, I noticed June was starting to have contractions. They were slight and far apart, but I knew that she was finally in labor! I tried patiently waiting in the barn with the animals, but after an hour and a half of no progress and cold temps, I finally went inside. David's parents came over for pizza, but after they left I went right back outside to sit with June.

At 10:00pm, I figured I'd better just go to bed so I could get some sleep. June was having stronger contractions, but wasn't pushing yet so I figured I had a little while. I set my alarm for 11pm, checked on the monitor, and nothing. I checked again at midnight and still no progress. Finally at 2:15 AM I heard June's bleating over the monitor. I quickly got dressed and ran out to sit with her.

She'd finally progressed and had a "bubble". That's what I call it at least. It was the amniotic sac with feet sticking out!


If you zoom in on the pictures, you can see the white tips of the hooves. I waited for about 10 minutes of her steadily pushing, then I crept in behind her and felt for the kid's correct position. The correct position is two front feet followed closely by the nose as the kid "dives" out. I felt two feet and teeth, so I knew she was good to go.



After about another 10 minutes of pushing, out dove this beautiful baby!


I cleared its mouth and nose and let June lick it for a minute. They started talking to each other, so I figured it'd be easier on everyone involved if I went ahead and took the kid inside. I didn't want June to get attached, since she can't raise them herself.



I got the kid mostly dried off and hurried back outside. There I found June with another baby on the way!


Out plopped another doe kid! Two doelings! I cleaned up the second one and brought her inside with her sister.


I went back out to bring June some warm water and get her milked out. After I made sure she was nice and comfy with lots of nice hay, I came back inside to tend to the babies. I heated the frozen cow colostrum I had and made sure they each got a belly full. Then they practiced standing up while I took lots of pictures. Finally, around 4:30 AM I headed up to bed.


Needless to say it took me a while to fall asleep! I was so excited.




I just love my little matched set!

Oh, and to answer Artsyfish's question from my last post, I put different color yarns around their neck so I could tell them apart! I think I've got it now though. One is lighter in color and has more brown on her nose. :)