Most farmers have working dogs, which in most cases are Border Collies. These animals work extremely hard and all they want to do is please their master. Due to Health and Safety reasons our dogs have to be kept away from the visitors, so they are out on the farm early in the morning and again when the visitors have gone home. Most working dogs round up sheep and cattle, but my two dogs like to put the chickens and ducks away at night and also love to tease any escaping goats. The goats simply don’t want a dog to direct them back into the pen, so they give the girls a hard time trying to head butt them. Unfortunately we lost our "old girl" Jade, as she developed a tumour on her stomach and our vet decided that it would be kinder to put her down. At least you can do that with an animal to prevent them suffering. Now, poor Sky is constantly looking out for her mate.
Over the last few months we have been targeted by petty thieves - a very young rabbit was taken from its pen by a visitor, and unfortunately it would have been too young to survive without some loving care and attention. Let’s just hope that’s what it was given in its new home! When we did our regular inspection on the fire extinguishers, we were surprised to find that someone had even taken a few of these!
Calves are no different to humans and sometimes they go down with viruses. We had a batch of calves that looked completely healthy one day, then all of sudden 6 of them fell ill all at the same time. We went to feed them and found all 6 of them flat on the floor gasping for air, so we called in the vet as it's extremely rare to see a bunch of animals to go down this quick. After dosing them up with a bucketful of antibiotics and enhancers, they gradually made a full recovery. The blood test proved inconclusive, leaving it a complete mystery why these calves were so poorly. I'm pleased to report that they’re all fit and healthy now, and the vet has presented me with a bill for over £1000 for her troubles!
Our goats are travelling all across the country at the moment, with enquiries coming from as far as Scotland and North Wales. As our kids are hand-reared, we are finding that smallholders like them as they are easy to manage. Lots of people request them to go in with ponies to keep their old pony company, but what they don’t realise is that goats do have a habit of chewing on the pony’s tail until there is no hair left at all! Others buy them as lawn mowers, but find that they will demolish the garden without touching any of the grass! One family has purchased two of our stronger goats to pull a cart around their garden.
Well, after the school holidays, we had to check that Father Christmas was going to visit the farm again this year, so we called him up. He says that he would like a quiet corner on the farm and that he enjoyed having the animals close by him. He did have a grumble about the turkeys being a bit too loud next to his house last year, so it looks like we’ll have to move all the straw out of the Straw Den to accommodate him once again.
The new term will bring a different group of students to the farm; some with severe learning difficulties and others with physical disabilities. Brockenhurst College have a group that are going to help with some of our maintenance projects and Southampton College are sending two groups to assist with the animal-related projects (that’s another way of saying mucking out!). Great Oaks school is targeting social skills for their students, and are using the animals as an aid for the students to learn how to communicate. It’s always a challenge taking these students on, but it is soon rewarded by the enthusiasm that they put into their work; even if only one or two of these students find full-time employment after completing the course, it's got to be worth it.
Because we have had so many people enquiring if we sell animal housing, we have linked up with a family company in Devon who make Poultry houses and rabbit hutches, and even stables and field shelters. It’s nice to deal with a family who are passionate about making quality goods and deliver good old-fashioned values!
Hope to see you soon. Farmer Bryan.  

SHE'S A PEARLER!

After months of searching, I'm pleased to be able to tell you that we have found a new Shire to put into Billy's stable. We found Pearl, a 17.5 hands pure Shire, in Wales. Alan, who buys most of our larger animals for us, phoned me one Saturday afternoon saying that he was at an auction in Wales, and that this wonderful mare was up for sale. He said that he had been watching her for a long time and she appears to be bomb-proof. Unfortunately, I didn't receive his
message as I was busy taking a group, so by the time I phoned him back she had gone through the auction ring and failed to reach the reserve price. My message to Alan was to find the owner and see if he was prepared to accept a private bid; it seemed like hours before I got a reply and a after a few heated exchanges, we agreed a price. She was then loaded onto a lorry and made her way back to Longdown. As the tail-board dropped, I waited with bated breath as she slowly walked down the ramp: have I made a mistake? Had I been conned? To my amazement, this horse was just what I had been looking for since January when Billy had died. As we led her down the yard she nudged me as though to say “thank you”. Pearl is a pedigree Shire, her official name is Catwe Duchess Pearl. She was hand-reared when she was a foal, then eventually trained to pull timbers out of the woods in Wales where, apparently, she struggled with this work, so she was then sold as a riding horse. She was so large, her new owners found it very difficult to feed her so decided to sell her on, meaning that this great horse will now spend her retirement at Longdown - and she seems to be loving every moment of it.

Our Vintage Rally was a great success this year with lots of exhibits and a small food hall. The blessing of a sunny weekend bought a record attendance of visitors and the atmosphere was tremendous. It seems that the decision to change it from the autumn was the right one - for this year at least. I was called into hospital the day that the Rally started, and was kept informed of the progress. I was told how well it was going, how well everyone worked together, and what a great success it had been - I got a complex that things seemed to work better when I wasn't about! During my absence, the staff have been tremendous, taking over the day-to-day activities, and organising the school groups and birthday parties - it really has proved what a dedicated team we have at the moment

Our incubator has been busy hatching  ducklings and goslings during the last few weeks, so we are currently using them at the Animal Encounter sessions. The goslings seem to be a great hit as it's not very often that you get the chance to hold these fluffy little creatures. It's also
amazing the rate that they grow—when they are too large to hold, they will go out into the
paddocks to clear the weeds and grass.

We have been doing a lot of planning for the New Forest Show and are hoping to have an area which will be more educational and interactive than last year. We are taking some of our larger animals along - which ones in particular will remain secret, but I can confirm that Samuel the donkey did not get an invite to attend the show this year after he upset the cows and sheep (well, at least their owners) with his very vocal outbursts last year! We hope that you can come along to the 2013 show, and we look forward to meeting up with you all. Unfortunately, The Queen says she may not be able to attend this year, but I'm sure that we will have some important person come to our display.

C C COLD WEATHER AND EASTER ANTICS

With the previous bitterly cold weather, the daily job of keeping all the animals warm has been a challenge. We’ve had heat lamps on the guinea pigs and chicks, and even the goat kids had their own centrally heated areas. Once the gates were open to visitors, it was an even larger challenge to keep our visitors warm, but we managed with electric heaters in the Tea Room and shops. These were much appreciated by the staff and visitors alike. I imagined that I could see the smile on the faces of the Electricity Board as the meters spun round out of control! Not all our visitors are under the age of seven: we have seen an increase in the older type of visitors from local nursing homes. As the guests are taken around the farm, we hear some of the same comments that we hear from the children, such as: 'Phew, it smells here" and "Wow that cow’s big!" However, the older visitors really do like to join in, and love being kids again. It is heart-warming to see how the older guests communicate with the animals - some love to hold a chick or a rabbit, whilst others just like to watch the goats play. Easter was extremely busy—the weekend beat all attendance records since the Farm opened to the public thirty years ago. Visiting families joined in with the egg hunts, with a lot of competitive dads looking for the golden eggs that I had hidden (some eggs probably hidden far too well in some cases). I even resorted to Facebook to give out further clues - oh, how times have changed in those thirty years! Stuart has taken on the role of Poultry Keeper - I call him Doctor Dolittle because early in the morning we hear him talking to the animals! We hear his voice beaming from the chicken houses: "Come on girls, out of the way. How can I clean you out when you’re stood on my spade?" We then watch him carry the chickens around under his arm as he introduces them to his duck friends. One thing’s for sure, I am convinced that we have employed someone who really does enjoy working with the poultry. The ewes decided to lamb a little later this year, which considering the weather, was a good choice. At least ours were inside the sheds and not outside in the appalling weather conditions that some of their cousins up North had to endure. I heard one farmer from North Wales quote that finding his dead lambs in the thawing snow was as heartbreaking as losing his flock to Foot and Mouth disease back in 2001. At least the weather has warmed up now, and is kinder to all the little ones. The cows, not wanting to be last, have now started to calf, geese are hatching, and even the Kune Kune pigs have decided to join in and give birth to a litter of piglets. So, at last, spring is in the air with all these new arrivals. I think we’re owed a sunny summer don’t you? Hopefully, the grass will start to grow soon, and we can put the cows back out into the fields to graze for a few months. To the astonishment of all the staff, on Saturday 6th April, Tilly decided to give birth in front of a group of visitors. It is very unusual for donkeys to give birth in front of people (let alone a group of 25) however, she slipped her foal out very quietly as the cameras clicked and astonished visitors watched. Since it was born, the foal’s long legs and equally long ears have been the talking point at the Farm, and visitors have been helping us choose a name for this little girl….. Well, that’s what I thought she was: a week after it was born, Kim and Louisa were watching the foal playing in its stable when they noticed a little extra bit! “Look at that—that little girl is a little boy!”, they laughed. We had created a fun competition on Facebook to name the little donkey foal, and it wasn't until after over 250 suggestions for a girl’s name that Farmer Bryan had to confess on Facebook that he couldn't tell the difference between a boy donkey and a girl donkey! And yes, it’s true, I should have gone to Specsavers! And no, I still haven’t lived it down!

BIRTHDAY FUN, EASTER EGGS AND GOATS GALORE!

What a start to the new season! Despite the very cold weather it seems that lots of families have had enough of the long, cold winter and just want to release the children! They visited the farm in their hoards during February half-term, and also over the Easter weekend (more of Easter later). We have also been very busy with school groups. Despite the cold weather, everyone seems to be having a great time. Most of the children come wrapped up nice and warm, and do not notice the chill, but some of the adults come in their summer attire and wonder why they feel so cold! The birthday parties are back in full swing; it still amazes me that children come back year after year knowing just what the party involves, yet never tire of it. Maybe it's because I make the birthday person the "Farmer" or "Boss", as we call it, for one and a half hours! One of those who has had birthday parties with us for the past few years is Farmer Sam. Sam is six years old and is completely paralysed. He spends the entire party in his wheelchair, unable to speak and his vision greatly reduced too. What is very touching about Sam is the smile he gives when I put a chick or guinea pig next to his ear. Sam wriggles his fingers in delight when the goat kid that I put onto his lap bleats at him, which makes me realise that all our efforts to communicate with him are so worth it. Most of Sam's friends also have disabilities - some more severe than others, but it is amazing how they all respond to the animals. This year we have taken on four new members of staff to help look after the animals. Their job involves cleaning out the stables and chicken areas before we open the gates at 10:00 o'clock. Tom and Katie look after all the poultry on the Farm, and Kylie and Poppy have the task of looking after the horses and donkeys. Hopefully this will enable the other staff to spend more time assisting our visitors with the daily activities. We say goodbye to Rachael, who has been looking after the goats for the past two years. She has got the travelling itch and is off to New Zealand to work on a large sheep farm assisting with lambing. We wish her well in her adventures. We have been busy planning what we are going to take to the New Forest Show in July. We have lots of ideas and are currently discussing them with the show's committee. Thank you for all your messages regarding Billy the Shire. We have commissioned a craftsman to design a play structure in the shape and size of Billy to go into the outdoor play area. After several meetings, I am confident that John will come up trumps, and produce this for us by the beginning of the summer holidays. Our goat sheds are crammed full at the moment with more young kids than we have ever had before. Poor Kim is at her wits' end wondering where to put them, and also desperately trying to train them to drink off the bottles before the next batch arrives. I stand my distance when I inform her that another group of kids are due to arrive any moment; I'm not a trained lip-reader, but I can guess what she's calling me! The problem this year is that all our suppliers have decided to kid their goats at the same time, when normally they kid down at different times. At least we can guarantee that everyone will get a go at giving a goat a bottle of milk at feeding time. The Easter weekend was a great success with many visitors taking part in our fun Easter egg trails. The little ones enjoyed looking for the nests around the farm, and counting up the eggs inside - although, I suspect they enjoyed the little chocolate treat at the end just as much! We had much rivalry between the visitors to find the hidden golden eggs - and that was just from the dads! As usual, I made sure that the ten golden eggs were hidden at the beginning of each Easter weekend day - NO ONE was allowed to know where they were hidden - not even Dawn! However, they had all been found by the end of each day - you must be getting cleverer! We are open for the rest of the school holidays, and of course, daily after then. Hope to see you soon. Farmer Bryan.

IT WAS HARD WORK, BUT WE'RE OPEN!

It’s surprising how many tonnes of material are brought onto the Farm (and off it) in preparation for re-opening. In the few weeks before the gates opened, 72 tonne of grade two hogging arrived for the levelling of the car park, then 26 tonnes of stone the duck area to replace the 30 odd tonne dug out in an attempt to reduce the smell, followed by 18 tonne of Barley straw to re-instate the Straw Den. Also 80 tonne of play bark for the play areas and animal pens, and besides all this coming in, there was over 100 tonnes of good old farmyard manure, which we dug out of the sheds and sent down the road to Sunnyfields Organic farm! All our staff joined in with the painting, or should I say, splashing on paint, as all the indoor areas have had a coat or two to tidy up the tired wood. I seemed to have a permanent job of driving up to B&Q to top up on the supplies. It was on my third visit in one week that I arrived at the checkout with my loaded trolley, (now bear in mind that I simply do not like shopping at the best of times, and find it difficult to get these trolleys to go in the direction that I need them to go), when this young lad then directed me to the scanning device on the side. I politely explained that I would prefer to be served by a "real person" only to be told that there was no one available and that I needed to use the scanner. As I desperately tried to get the trolley to reverse out of the till area (doing my best not to swear), the young lad excitedly showed me the way to the dreaded scanning machine, and then disappeared as I loaded my 23 items onto the small space in front of me. The machine started to blurt out at me to put an item on the scales; my young friend turned up again explaining that only one item should be put on the table at a time, and watched me as I started to throw all the goods back into the trolley. As the prices showed on the screen and five products went through my confidence started to grow, well, that was until the machine blurted out: "Call for an attendant". When my young friend arrived, this time quite sheepishly, he explained that I had a multiple purchase and waved his yellow card and the machine started to proceed again. I looked over my shoulder at the long queue forming, and I whispered to the lad: “If it calls you again, this trolley will stay here and I will buy my goods down the road”. Well, blow me as he walked away again, the dreaded machine told me to call for an attendant! Using his well-rehearsed customer care, he informed me that he would need to know my age as I was purchasing white spirit! He must of seen the steam coming out of my ears as he tried to persuade me not to walk out. As I apologised to the waiting crowd, he discreetly called in a supervisor who finished putting through my goods. Got some service in the end! The Farm is almost fully stocked again with piglets, goat kids, chicks, and all the guinea pigs and rabbits (or fluffies, as I call them), Kerry is excited about the introduction of some Continental Rabbits and her French Giants. More of these later... It has been a very long winter with the never-ending rain making life very difficult. The Farm has been so very quiet without the sound of noisy children, so we were all delighted to welcome back our visitors at the beginning of the half-term holiday. And what a lot there were! Unfortunately, due to the saturated ground, we were unable to use our overflow car park, so we did have a few parking issues. Apologies to those that experienced problems. Hopefully, the overflow will be in use over the Easter period. Farmers are known to be hardened when it comes to losing one of their animals, however, I will admit losing Billy, our Shire, certainly hit us all hard. He was such a great character, and the celebrity of the Farm. We are searching for another Shire, but we certainly will never find one with the same qualities that Billy had. As I have mentioned before, we will be adding a permanent memorial to Billy on the Farm. In the meantime, there is a small tribute display on the wall between the tearoom and gift shop. This is DARIUS— officially, the world’s largest rabbit! He is The Guiness World Record holder of the title: “largest rabbit”. He measures 4ft 3in from nose to tail and was only 12 months old when he took the title! We are the proud owners of BRUNO, one of Darius’s babies. We are really hoping that he will reach the size that Darius has achieved. Find Bruno and his other rabbit friends at the Farm next time you visit. When Bruno is a little bit older, and he has settled in to his new home, we will be introducing him to the visiting children during the small animal handling sessions. Hope to see you soon. Farmer Bryan.

START OF A NEW SEASON

With Christmas over for another year, we are now busy planning and scheming for the new season’s activities, and reminiscing over last year’s events, the year in general, and how it all worked out. We are looking at ways that we can improve the Farm for this coming season. We were delighted with the response that we had from our visitors who visited the Christmas Barn. Our sincere thanks go to Tim, all the staff and the contractors that helped us turn the straw den into a Nativity scene, and of course Steve, John and Matt who literally bailed us out when we got flooded; bringing in a JCB to dig out a trench to divert the flowing water away from Father Christmas's house. It was 6.00 o'clock one morning, that I realised that the water was reaching a dangerous level, not just flooding the pathway, but by now it was shooting off the roof and flowing towards Father Christmas's house. Realising that the pump that we had installed the day before was not working, I clambered over the fence and tried frantically to exercise my electrical skills. I soon re-discovered that electricity and water do not go together, as a massive spark and a few choice words flew in all directions! I decided to find a replacement pump, which I soon attached to the pipe work and was pleased when I found water squirting through the pipe. What I hadn't realised was the end of the pipe was now above me, showering the dirty water down on top of me - the smell of this water left me wondering where it had come from! The worst part of the morning was about to begin, as I struggled to get the end of the pipe into the outside ditch, I slipped into the ditch. Now this is not the best place to be just three weeks after having an operation on your foot. I was unable to put any weight on my right foot, and my left foot was sinking further into the now full ditch, filling up my welly boots. As motorists slowed down, I can only assume that they thought I had had a few too many the night before, as not one of them stopped to give assistance. The only way out of the ditch was to roll up and over the bank, and by now I was looking like a pig in mud, but definitely not so happy! We are making some changes at the farm this year: all the materials have been booked, machinery hired in and a great team of staff raring to go. A new guinea pig village is being built, where visitors will be able to watch them play, and hopefully see some being born. The Animal Encounter will now be in the Rabbit House, which we are hoping will give visitors more time with the smaller animals. This is Kerry's new project and she has put a lot of effort in making this work. We are also working on a new "meet the pigs area", however this has encountered a few unexpected problems, so just watch this space. There will be very few staff changes this season, as most of our loyal staff wish to stay on, so once again we have a great team. Chez, a little Shetland pony, has joined us during the winter with the intention that he will be a stable mate for Billy. It is time for our orphan New Forest foal, Toby, to move on to pastures new, simply because he is being wasted at the farm, as he has great potential of being broken in as a child's pony. We open again on the 16th February, but please remember that if you wish to renew your season ticket or purchase a new one, the discounted price ends on the 13th February 2013. We all look forward to seeing you soon. Farmer Bryan.