We had an adorable little gray & white doe kid born yesterday morning. Al found her outside in the rainstorm with her mother. She had been cleaned up & had already nursed. He brought the two of them into the stable where all seemed to be well. She was fine last night when he made the final rounds but found her floppy this morning. She had not eaten through the night. Upon closer inspection of mama, it was obvious why. The mother's teats where huge & swollen so that it would have been impossible for that little one to nurse.
Long story short is that we've milked mama, tube fed baby twice so far, given baby an enema as well as a selenium shot & now have baby under a heat lamp. Mama is anxiously fussing with her but we're not sure about the outcome of all of this. If the baby survives, it will have to be a bottle baby. Mama has LOTS of milk & cooperated when I put her on the milk stand even though this is her first time at handmilking. Looks like I'll be milking every morning & evening then bottling the baby throughout the day. If the baby doesn't make it, I may still continue to milk for a bit as we enjoy making a little cheese & milking time is usually quite a pleasant diversion in my day.
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