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.