WARNING: Cute Alert!

We had a HUGE surprise on Sunday, when Ben came running into the house yelling that there was a baby donkey! He couldn't even tell us which one of our miniature donkeys had given birth. So we all ran out to the barn yard and there was this tiny black ball on the ground by Molly. I didn't think she was due for another month or so, and I was really worried about her because this is her first baby and she is only 3 years old, but it seemed like I had been worrying about nothing, because Molly had done awesome! The little baby hadn't even stood up yet when we got out there. So we watched as SHE stood up for the first time. That is what the next 4 pictures show.

Molly was so nice and let us all near them to get to know this new creature, which we named, "Jemima" after Daniel Boone's daughter. But we noticed after a few hours that Molly would not let Jemima nurse and we got very worried. We knew she needed the colostrum in Molly's milk within the first 12 hours or Jemima would not be a very strong donkey.  So we put them both in stall in the barn, so we could observe them closer and for fear that Little Joe would hurt Jemima.  Later that evening, when Jemima still hadn't been able to nurse, I took to trying to find my milk pump and Larry drove to a neighbours who has horses to see if they could help in some way. I was still trying to find all the pieces of the pump, when Larry pulled in the driveway with our friend in our van.  We had to tie Molly up on both ends, head and feet, so that Jemima could nurse. And it worked! I think it helped Molly, who was very sore from the birth, to see that it probably wasn't as painful as she thought it would be to let Jemima drink. You should have seen that little ball of black fur jump and kick and run around the stall after she got some milk in her! SO CUTE!

And just look at her colour, which won't change. Her mom is normal donkey colours and her dad, Little Joe, is white with grey spots and she is just dark, dark brown, almost black. She even ahas a black cross on her back, that is very hard to see.

Here is Ben and Jacob getting to meet Jemima.

Keep watching for weekly updates on Jemima's progress and for news on the birth of our other miniature donkey, Jenny's, baby.

I have linked this post up to Homestead Revival