Nell had 2 doelings!

madcow

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Bruce came running in about 4 this afternoon and said Nell had kidded. She had 2 doelings, :celebratea black and white one with the floppy ears of a Nubian (from daddy) and a brown and white one with the little LaMancha ears from Nell! They both were already cleaned up and dry when we found them, but from their lack of energy we could tell neither had nursed. The little black and white one was the one we were the most concerned about, because she definitely had been born first and was the smallest of the two. She was almost completely lethargic and we had to milk some colostrum from Nell and bottle feed the little girl and she got maybe a teaspoon down. She wasn't actively sucking, but we slowly dripped her the milk and we could tell she swallowed it. It wasn't too long before she seemed to have some energy. While that was going on we managed to get the other baby to actually nurse. Nell is a FF and she really wasn't sure about the nursing part and the flies are just terrible this year and she kept kicking the brown one off, but she was determined and finally nursed. Nell settled down after that, but the flies were still making nursing for the babies difficult in that they would have to try to locate a teat, but Nell would have to kick to rid herself of a fly and the baby would have to start again. After the black one got some energy we put her up to nurse and it didn't take her long before she was latched on and going at it. Both babies visibly perked up after a good feeding and I made sure both urinated before leaving them alone, and had nursed at least one more time. Without any further waiting, here are pictures of the cuties:
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madcow

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Thank you so much. Granddaughter was here when we found them and she decided to call the black one Pepper. I got up and checked on them several times last night and made sure they both nursed each time and then I was able to get some sleep at about 4 a.m. They are much stronger today and have nursed and peed numerous times. They are sleeping a lot, but will get up and nurse each time I coax them to. It's in the low 90's here today and the humidity is terrible. The little ones were panting and we put up a mister for them and they actually laid in the outer region of where the mist would hit and they quit panting. They get stronger each time I see them and with each nursing, but they still seem really feeble and fragile to me. I'm thinking they might have been a little early, as they are so very thin, but they are completely developed and doing really well considering. Nell is a great mother and when she lies down she just oozes milk at times. She comes from excellent milk stock and that's why my friend Cyndy and I bought her. The brown one with the LaMancha ears is the one she thinks she wants, because she isn't fond of black. Black is not the best color in Texas in the summer.
 
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