Winter news from the Farm

Autumn Farm collage

Winter always keeps us busy making sure that the animals have got enough to eat whilst the grass isn’t growing. It’s a good job because it can often be cold and bleak but the days when the sun is shining and you are treated to a beautiful winter sunrise remind you how lucky you are to be working outdoors.

Sheep

The sheep scanner has been, so we now know how many lambs we are expecting, a grand total of 34!! 6 of our ladies are expecting a single lamb, 11 are having twins and 2 are having triplets, so don’t miss our favourite time of year-lambing time, 2^nd-10^th April. We can now work out a careful diet for the pregnant ewes going forward. Those in lamb to twins or triplets will need a lot more sustenance than those having a single lamb.

Horses

The horses winter outside but come in daily for a rack full of hay and a belly full of feed. Sensation (our 4 year old shire) has had an operation in January at Equine Hospital to remove some Sarcoids (persistent and progressive skin lumps caused by a virus that horses can get). She is now recovering well and will be fit and well ready for the start of high season. Ready to show everyone how beautiful she is.

Pigs

Luna our Large White farrowed on the 14^th February, and has 7 adorable piglets it’s so nice to have little piglets back in the piggery. We now have 5 different breeds of rare breed pigs for you to see.

Goats

The Golden Guernsey billy goat has arrived from another Rare Breeds Farm and is running with some of our nannies over the next few weeks. We’re hoping for kids around June time. We haven’t had goat kids for a few years now so that will be exciting for 2022. Fingers crossed!

Donkeys

The donkeys are back to training to try and shift the winter ‘carrot weight’. We have bought a little buggy ready for them to pull when they are fully trained and this year’s aim is also to get them to load into a trailer easily and with no stress…. Watch this space!

So lots to keep us busy plus we are still open to visitors at weekends. We have a Pancake Day planned for the 5^th Feb, so join us to learn more about where your pancake ingredients come from, eggs in the hen house, milk from the shippon and flour from the Mill. We will also be celebrating Mother’s Day with a quiz to match mothers with their babies and learn more our heavily pregnant sheep-mums to be!!

Newsletter compiled by the Farm Team.