Friday 19 April 2013

Tentative progress.

Things have calmed down a little here in Patouland, Tuesday's mess has almost been cleared up and it is time to introduce the newest member of the herd to the big wide world.
 
Ladies and Gentlemen (drum roll please) may I present Patou Una. Yes, as in Una Paloma Blanca, there I've said it, it's out there, we can move on.

 

Today as the sun is shining Una has been released into the birthing paddock with Victoria who was going a little bit stir crazy. I will get them back in later and they can stay in the shed overnight.

Things haven't gone exactly to plan over the last couple of days and we are still in a high state of readiness here, we have been and continue to observe little Una very closely.

Her birth weight (once I had deducted the weight of the coat) was 6.77kg. After 24 hours that had gone down to 6.08kg. We were not alarmed at this as a 10% initial weight loss is quite common. However, this morning she weighed in at 5.85kg. That set the alarm bells ringing.

It's all a bit odd. Victoria was producing a clear liquid for the first two days (may still be, unable to check at the moment as I am alone) and not the milk that we are used to seeing. We have never experienced this and advice was sought from His Royal Timness and a breast feeding expert friend of Sue's. Not a problem was the verdict.

Una is up and feeding regularly, perhaps too regularly and the weight loss over the past 24 hours shows that she is not getting enough from Victoria. This was further reinforced when I went out this morning with a bottle and she polished off 200mls in five minutes flat.

 
So we are now into a 2 hourly feeding regime, which if this mornings feed is anything to go by should be a doddle (that's it I've done it now!).
 
It does raise another question for us. Victoria is now eleven and as I mentioned in an earlier post, lost a premature cria last year. She only has two registered cria. Perhaps she is a problem birther? We will be thinking very carefully about whether to get her pregnant again. She is however a very attentive and loving mother.
 
 

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Great name. She is just the cutest cria it so suits her!

If you end up bottle feeding for months I don't think that you will be wanting to repeat the same thing next year! At last we have stopped bottle feeding after feeding since last May (first and last born of 2012)!

Zanzibah Alpacas said...

Great to hear that Una is doing well.... she looks a real sweetie, hope things continue to stay that way ...and lets hope that Spring will bring some lovely sunshine for your lovely new arrival ... Jayne

Lucy said...

Was she an early cria?