This morning at 5am we were woken by the donkeys braying so we raced out of bed & out the front door to find them all waiting for us outside. Aggie, who we had long suspected was pregnant, was indeed trying to give birth to her foal which was very much stuck.
.
So Les & I fenced her up & she lay down to receive some much needed help. Now Aggie is the donkey who is shy & timid and pretty much stands back when the others rush up to get food. She has always been very wary of us humans. And here she was, laying on her side and allowing Les to gently pull the hooves of her foal out of her. It was an amazing scene… but we were not sure if the foal was alive or dead. We watched & waited to see if the foal would breathe, and HE eventually did!!
.
It took another hour or so for the foal to stand on his shaky legs (they are all legs when little!) and this afternoon, he is happily sucking from his mother. Les, Nicholas, Grace & I took a “family vote” and after many many votes & re-votes, we settled on Tommy!! So please have a look at his cute photo on the website!!
http://www.heartlandretreat.com.au/Donkey-Sanctuary.html
.
A lot of people ask “why do you have donkeys?” and I guess a good answer is “why not?” Donkeys can be a neglected and abused animal – most in Australia end up in cans of dog food. We were looking for animals to put on our farm who would eat the grass but not the macadamia trees. The donkeys are in harmony here – we love them and our guests enjoy meeting & feeding them. That’s our happy news for the day!
.
Wishing you the “birth” of possibilities during this New Year. Blessings to all,
.
Trudi
This is so wonderful! Congratulations on your new arrival.