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| Story Date | Headline |
| 13/10/2003 | The story so far. |
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Hello donkeylovers everywhere! With great excitement I am starting the Latest News section of the website.It certainly has been a rollercoaster of a ride since the day in July, when on a bright sunny morning the truck arrived with the donkeys! They had travelled overnight,so as to be as cool as possible, all the way from the finca high up in the Sierras , near Jaen , down to the Costa del Sol to our finca here on the coast. They looked very well and not at all phased by their journey. Romero was the first one to be unloaded and he walked calmy down the ramp and looked around him with great curiosity. I led him along the terrace and down to the stable paddock and into a fresh clean stable with plenty of hay and a bucket of fresh water. As he is the semental (stallion) it was important that he was settled first, as then, his girlies , his harem ,then would follow with no problems. They all came off the truck with no problems and walked slowly down to find their own hay and water and to stretch their legs. There were two very young donkeys, El Quivir and Britty, but both were self posessed and not at all worried by their change of home. Rosario who was at that time VERY pregnant also waddled her way down to the paddock and started to eat and drink. Our own two girlies Lola and Chocolate were watching all of this through the gate. For the moment they were apart from the new group so as not to cause any possible problems. As you can imagine we spent that first day just watching them and talking to them and giving them lots of cuddles!! The Andaluz Donkey just adores lots of cuddles!!So little by little and week by week they have settled in very well and our two have become good friends with the herd.After a couple of days we had the first experience of having a female donkey in season and a male donkey wanting to do his duty! I have to tell you that Romero is the craftiest romeo around! He is quiet and patient and very caring towards his girlies and we had a successful honeymoon over a period of a few days, or so it seemed. Lola proved to be definite hussy! Oh well, we will have to wait for a few weeks to see if she has taken!. Greedy as she is she did NOT take on that first honeymoon and so we have tried again and this time it looks OK, so all being well, Lola will produce a babe next October. Next it was Chocolate who wanted a honeymoon and again Romero was kind, loving and caring and very patient. He knows every trick in the book and it is a very interesting excercise to watch him at work. The weeks are slipping by and we have had truck loads of hay and straw delivered, extra fencing and various other necessities to be sure that all is well and safe for this precious group of donkeys. The days and weeks slip by and now it is October and we are waiting with baited breath to see what Rosario will produce. I had been sleeping in the stables to keep Rosario company as she needed lots of caring cuddles etc. Also, I really wanted to see the birth of the first foal born here on the finca. She looked OK and it was thought that she had a few more days to go before she would give birth so I elected to sleep in the bed for a change and next morning, yes, you have guessed, there was a gorgeous little foal just standing up, all wobbly on his feet and still damp around the ears. So, I missed the birth! The worst of all is that Rosario was carrying twins! This is very rare as normally they will abort at about 5months, and the vet thinks we are very lucky to have one foal alive. Sadly the female didn't make it.We have named him Serrato, which means of the Sierras. He was born on 8th October 2003. Of course he is wonderful to cuddle with his soft as silk coat and long fluffy ears. By two weeks he knows his name and has started nibbling hay alongside his mother.He has two bottom teeth and he loves to gallop around the terrace and then he will collapse in a heap back in the stable on the straw and go to sleep. He is growing so quickly and will be very handsome. Romero is his father. Chocolate also decided to have a second honeymoon! We shall know in a few weeks if she has taken this time around. Rosario too has been on honeymoon!! 8 days after giving birth she was put back with Romero, so again we will wait and see what happens in a few days time. You can see I hope how the days are here on the finca with a herd of donkeys to look after and love. Busy and great fun! For the moment that is all, see you next time. |
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