Animal Crackers - "I am Spartacus!"

Howdy,

Well it has been week. First - Scarlett had her baby - a VERY BIG BABY BOY!

We call him Spartacus!

Scarlett had him on the 18th - late afternoon and it was a tough birth for her but she is a strong Mom... boy was this a BIG BOY! She really struggled birthing and he was a single baby. The evening he was born and all cleaned up I took him over to meet his cousins, Thelma and Louise. OMG! He was an hour old and he was 1/3 bigger and 1/2 as much again heavier! BIG BOY! as the girls are two weeks old! And when trying to find a name to fit him... went through all the tough names and big names... and landed on Spartacus... perfect!

Here he is just 45 minutes old... adorable.

 Oops... Mom Scarlett wanted to Photo bomb the picture here... "UH Hello I did all the hard work! "

Caught some great shots of Rhett and her babies... Here Louise is learning about hay -

And here they are chillin' under their shade cloth. Climbing on Mom is the best entertainment in the world you know...

 

Now I need to let you know about Jill. After watching her close, we could tell something was off a bit. When she finally looked like she was having contractions and in labor we for sure knew something was wrong. And of course that happens on a Sunday afternoon - We got the Doc out here as soon as we could. By that time it wasn't looking positive for Jill much less the baby. I was a mess. 

 But we have the best Vet in the world. He wasn't giving up on Jill. We knew the baby was for sure to not have survived at this point and only concern was Jill. What we ended up learning is that Jill's water had broke days before, most likely an accident, a head punch or falling or something. Baby wasn't quite ready to deliver yet and was stuck. Doc and I after hours finally got the baby out and gave Jill meds and pain killers. By this time I would have loved some of those myself. He said he just wasn't 100% sure Jill would survive but that he thought she had a pretty good chance. I am happy to let you know that despite moving around very slow for a few days by the end of the week she was trotting to the food and looking so much better and relaxed. Jill has always been one of the special ones. And loosing her would have been really hard. But she is doing great! I don't think we will be re-breeding her again. Doc said after some time it could be safe... but we don't want to take any chances. We love this girl and Thank God she is doing so well.

 And Chrissie... well we don't think she is pregnant... another first time Mom put in with Frank and not bred. So after talking to the Doc we think that probably Frankie is just getting up their in age and isn't going to be as successful for breeding. We haven't told Frankie... why hurt his feelings and make him feel bad right?  Might put Annie back in with him, they really love each other and if she gets pregnant that isn't so bad. Then in a couple of weeks after doing some work in the pens moving a few around and such we will finally give Hank a chance at being a Daddy next season... and in the future Doc.  Frank... no worries he will live here forever in his retirement, he is family.

 Hope you have a wonderful weekend where you are... Rain and more Rain is predicted for here. But as much as we have had here... it keeps the grass growing and that is always a great thing.

Enjoy you weekend!
HUGS and