Noah's Story 

Green Gully Noah 

Born: 19th december 2007

We made the decision to induce Noah's mother Charlotte and another one of our females as we were going away for Christmas. We felt this was the best decision at the time as we didn't want the responsibility left to the grandparents who would be minding the farm over the Christmas period. So all seemed to be going well until we checked on Charlotte in the early hours of the morning and as planned she was in labour. We went out into the paddock to find the presentation of just one foot. After closer inspection we discovered that the cria had his head tucked towards his chest and to make matters worse Charlotte had not properly dialated. So we called the vet and waited the agonising 45 minutes for him to arrive during which time we noticed some bleeding. We were unsure if the bleeding was coming from Charlotte or the cria so now time was of the essence. When the vet arrived after great struggle to free the cria the decision was made to use eye hooks, a tool which is most commonly used on stillborn calfs. At this stage we were just trying to save the mother. A traumatic experience for all involved but the cria was finally out. To the amazement of everyone the cria was still breathing, the vet took one look at him and said that he appears to have brain damage and that he probably wouldn't survive. Of course to make matters worse it was a pretty miserable day so we didn't even have the sun on our side to help this little cria. Despite all the bad news we took him and mother charlotte down to the shed and did our best to warm him up. We wrapped him up in one of the horse rugs, covered him in heat packs and got the hairdryer going. He was suffering hypothermia and shock as a result of the difficult birth. He seemed to be picking up a little so we gave him his first of many bottles. He was still in a bad way so we took him into the vets in the back of the car in a box to get a plasma transfusion to give him the best shot at survival; he was now around five hours old. After the transfusion we brought him home and kept him fed and warm including the dreaded night shifts. During these night shifts we discovered he was blind as he would not react to the torch light, so the future was now looking pretty grim as by this time he had made no attempt to stand. While ever he was alive and pleased to hear us coming with his bottle we kept feeding him. It was the 23rd of December and we had organised with the neighbours to feed the animals while we were away for a few days over Christmas. While giving the neighbours the tour we showed them Noah and explained that we were probably going to put him down that afternoon as he was still blind and not standing. As we were talking Mum was standing with Noah in between her legs and said that he would be put down unless he gave us some sort of sign, he then pushed himself up to a standing position with the help of mums legs for support. If that’s not a sign then I don't know what is! He was now making attempts to stand but his muscles and tendons were badly damaged while he was being pulled from his mother by two men during birth. We can only imagine the pain he must have been in but never the less he continued to fight for his life and make an impression on us all. So Pete and Shirley Berry (now know as Uncle Pete and Aunty Shirley) came to the rescue putting their hands up to look after him while we were away. During his stay at the Berry's Noah regained his sight and from there he began to run around and act like any other normal cria. Noah was now doing really well but unfortunately Charlotte was unable to bond with him and refused to feed him, so it was up to us. Noah is now around 18 months old and has become our resident uncle; he lives in a paddock near the house looking after the weanlings making them as friendly as he is.

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