Sunday, March 09, 2008

Stella & Douglas are doing fine

Here's some of Stella's milk from this morning. In person, it's really dark & yellowy because it's mostly colostrum, which is a special kind of nutrient-dense milk mammals produce right after birth. It has all kinds of immune-boosting stuff, as well as proteins, carbohydrates and anitbodies that newborns need to get started right. We'll freeze this to have on hand for emergencies, and in a few days Stella will start producing normal milk that we can drink. Douglas doesn't drink much right now, so Stella has plenty to share. As he gets older we'll have to separate them for a few hours to make sure we get the milk we need. After morning milking, mom & baby will be together til bedtime.
He sure looks better all cleaned up with his fluffy curly coat. He's still a bit wobbly, but knows where the food is and likes his cheeks scratched.




3 comments:

Anonymous said...

He's so cute. How tall is he? It's hard to tell in the pictures that Stella and Douglas are smaller than regular cows. Have Fergus and Stewart met him yet?
I'm printing the pictures for Linley.

Anonymous said...

He is really cute...can hardly wait to see him....

Seven Trees said...

Yesterday Doug weighed 48.5lbs and is 23" at the shoulders. I think that's about average for a Dexter.

Fergus loves Doug and tried to lick him through the fence. Stewart was not too sure that the new critter belongs here, but he'll figure it out. They only got to see the baby today.