Spring news from the Farm

Spring on The Farm

Spring is one of the busiest times of the year for us but it’s always a relief to be coming out of the hard, physical slog of winter and feeling the warmth of the sun grow stronger by the day. This year we are especially looking forward to that feeling of new beginnings, new life and new hope for a better year. We are excited to be welcoming our visitors back (hopefully in April) and can’t wait to show off our lovely farm and animals again. We are busy planning lots of events for this high season so keep an eye on social media and the website.

Pigs

Lots of exciting things going on in the piggery at the minute…We have done a big spring clean, power washed the pens and repainting the walls. Luna is due a litter of piglets just before Easter and we are delighted to be welcoming two new additions to the herd… Martha the Middle White who will be going onto our adoption scheme and also a lovely Berkshire gilt!

Sheep

What says Spring better than newborn lambs!! The highlight of the shepherds calendar. We are lambing from the 8th April and the ewes have all been scanned so we know what we’re expecting. This is really important so we can feed the pregnant ewes correctly. If they are carrying one lamb they need less nutrition than if they are carrying two. You can keep up to date on our ‘lambing countdown’ via social media.

Cows

The vet is coming to pregnancy test the cows on 3rd March. We can’t wait to see how many Red Poll calves we can expect this summer. We already know that Berry, our Jersey cow, is pregnant and due mid July… just in time for summer milking!

Horses and Donkeys

Friar, Tabitha and Sensation are back being ridden out in the park now the weather has improved and the ground is less hard or slippy. Blossom has weathered the winter in great condition.. we can’t believe she will be 21 years old this August. She is an absolute legend, the heart of the farm. We have been busy training our donkeys this last few months and they are progressing nicely. Frosty and Huw are confident being long reined out now and we have just started them pulling a small tyre to now get them used to the feeling of weight behind them. Frosty took to it better than Huw (as ever) but we are so proud of how far they’ve come, including crazy Pickles!

Other news

We have two new lovely guinea pigs for you all to meet. We were really sorry to lose all three of our guinea pigs over the last few months but they were a very good age. We are now busy taming up the new additions. Dancer is doing well and the goats are as cheeky as ever! We are hoping to have chicks in the hatchery for you all to see once we’re opened up.