Whew! Feels like it's been a week since I found Ice Cream in the barn in labor, or since I've slept
I actually passed out from exhaustion earlier, but the vet called, so I only got a 45 minute 'power nap'. I put a call into him this morning because Ice Cream was down and quivering at one of my barn checks. He gave me a few ideas to try, then told me to call him with any results. So, as my girl laid on the ground, DS & I cleaned as much of her bag as possible and milked the only teat I could reach. Got a whopping pint of colostrum, but hey, I was proud of our efforts! Brought it in, put it in a bottle and served it up to Flank. WOW! I am amazed at what a little Momma's first milk can do for a calf! He was hopping around in his little pen, bucking and raring to go!
We went back out a couple hours later and got 3/4 pint from another teat. We were using the Dansa hand milking system I got this past Spring. It has a bit of a learning curve, but it was WAY faster/easier than doing it by hand! Ice Cream didn't mind at all, and DS worked the pump, so it was gravy for me! Forgot to mention: We had trouble trying to tube feed Flank, so we gave up. I got him to suck my fingers, to 'activate' his sucking reflex, then hubs sat with him for an hour getting him to drink a bottle of milk replacer (It's all we had - yup, not really prepared for the 'what-if's' cuz my husband said I was just getting freaked out by reading all the negative scenarios online and we 'aren't going to need any of that stuff'. hmmm...) After that, I sat on the bale of straw we used as a barrier for him, with the bottle beside my leg. He came up and 'bumped' my leg, looking for milk, found the bottle, and drank. I thought it may help for when he got back out with Ice Cream. When hubs got home, he took a true measurement of Flank - he's 27" tall!! For a miniature, that's HUGE! Don't know his exact weight, but he;s either about 40# or 1 ton, based on when I carried him into the house
Tonight Hubs also carried him out to the barn and we put him in with Ice Cream. At first, she ignored him, and I was worried. An hour later when we checked, she was licking him. At the 3 hour mark she was encouraging him to nurse. She is a fantastic Momma - I am so proud of her! We are leaving him in with her, in spite of the temps tonight ( Deb: supposed to be -20's and bitter again. Ugh). He really is doing great, and at my last check (it was -10 then)they were snuggled up together on a pile of straw
One more check and I can go collapse into bed!
Here is a photo of Flank I took with my phone. Hubby was disappointed that I didn't 'stage' it to better show his size (put something in with him, I think is what he meant
) Tough to see the brindle in his coat here:
![:\](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/side.png "side :\")
)
