What's New at The Farm?

 

Well our animals have certainly been busy at Home Farm in recent weeks! As you know Blossom gave birth to her beautiful foal Tabitha on the 8th May. Then it was the cows turn to take the limelight, with Rosie the red poll calving her very first heifer calf on May 12th and Poppy our 7 year old Red Poll cow calving her bull calf on May 28th. Cows Katrin, calved on the 11th of June, Katie on the 16th and Missouri on the 22nd. Their friend 'Bright Eyes' is next to calve and she is due on August 8th.
 
In between all this excitement in the bovine world, our hens certainly didn't want to miss out on the attention from the visiting public. One of our hens has decided to play adoptive mum to 4 ducklings! She made the decision to sit on 'Indian Runner' duck eggs to keep them warm and on June 24th she hatched out her babies, but instead of "cheep cheep!" farm staff heard "quack quack!" as the ducklings began to hatch out. She has pride of place by the farm shop in a special coop so that she can show off her beautiful babies to the adoring public. 

Now onto the piggery…The pigs never like to be outdone and so on Friday evening on June 6th Lottie our 5 year old Large Black sow farrowed her beautiful litter of 11 Tamworth x piglets. They are absolutely adorable and Lottie is loving being a mum again. It won't be long before they are following mum outside to play in the lush grass fields, especially in this glorious weather…..the sun making it an ideal time for Lottie to teach her babies the delights of a mud bath! Pearl our Berkshire sow is the next to farrow, her due date being July 31st.

On the 17th and 18th June the prestigious Cheshire County Show saw Finn take 3rd place and Blue 4th place in the fabulous spectacle- the 'Ridden Heavy Horse' class. They did exceptionally well as there was some tough competition and it was a big class so a huge CONGRATULATIONS to them! 5 of our pigs also took centre stage in an outdoor exhibition in the pig section. They had a whale of a time over the 2 days and loved all the attention from the adoring passers by!  

 

Animal Adoption News

Blossom - The long awaited arrival of Blossom's foal finally came to an end when 'Tatton Tabitha' decided to make her way into the world at 12 noon on Thursday 8th May. She certainly takes after her mum in the good looks department as you can see from her photograph! She has now left her special 'maternity ward' in Nantwich and has been welcomed to her new home on the Farm!

Rosie - Rosie the Red Poll, another favourite in our adoption scheme also contributed to the baby boom when she calved her first ever calf at around 4pm on May 12th! Before calving, cows usually separate off from the rest of the herd but Rosie being the sociable lady she is decided not to stay too far away from her friends and seemed to appreciate the advice from some of our older ladies! We have named the calf 'Ursula'. She is absolutely beautiful and is certainly loving the attention from the public. Rosie can't wait to show her off to you all so make sure you come and see her at her most adorable!

Tallulah has now been weaned from her litter but is hopefully expecting her second litter at the beginning of September.
 

If you adopt any of these animals you will be making a worthwhile contribution to the conservation of these rare breeds.  You will be sent regular 6 month updates about your chosen friend and will be able to have a free visit to the Farm to meet them.  Also see your friend on the Farm webcam, coming soon...