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.

SUMMER'S END AND AN ITCHY SHIRE

Where did those summer holidays go? Seems that they go quicker every year! Despite everything else that was going on this summer, we were kept very busy at Longdown, with lots of new faces and just as many of our regular visitors. Judging by the majority of comments that we have received, it seems that most of our visitors have been happy ……. well, we did get a complaint from one lady who felt that the smell from the pigs was offensive, so I offered to provide her with some air fresheners! Welcome to the real world of farming! Our pigs have been busy farrowing throughout the summer with 10 litters being born, much to the delight of the visitors. We have had to create temporary accommodation for them – no different than the NHS! Before the little piglets get too old (or to be more precise, before their teeth get too sharp!), we allow the visitors to stroke them in the animal handling sessions, which has been very popular over the holidays. We so enjoy seeing the children’s (and adult’s!) faces light up when they get the opportunity to get so close to these delightful little pigs. Poor Billy the Shire has been plagued by the dreaded mite once again. These horrible little creatures burrow into his legs through his hair, which then causes him to itch. Unlike us, he is unable to scratch with any fingers, so he finds the nearest upright and wallops his leg against it until he either bleeds or the upright gives way! We seem to be constantly replacing fence posts when he has one of his ‘itchy sessions’. Sarah, our vet, decided that it would be best to trim his feathers (the long silky hair on his legs) out completely. However, Billy used his 1100kgs to resist, stamping on the floor with his size 20 feet, then leaning on Sarah until she ended up a heap on the floor! It became a battle of wills with Sarah: five foot nothing, against Billy, 18.2 hands. So in desperation, a large syringe with a sedative was produced. With Kim and Conor on the lookout, the vet quickly trimmed all four legs before the giant woke. He is on the road to recovery now, even if he does look like a freshly clipped poodle! A new influx of students have arrived from Brockenhurst and Southampton colleges and our task is to get them into a work mode and to get them to work as a team. We have set them some interesting challenges - let’s hope that they can come up with the goods. It’s always interesting to watch these students on their first few weeks doing their utmost to keep clean. After a few weeks with us, they soon learn to accept that a little bit of dirt doesn’t harm anyone. With our summer staff heading back to universities all over the country, we have hijacked Katie from the Gift Shop to help with the animal work – quite a challenge for someone who cherishes her well manicured nails! However, she seems to be coping very well at present. We wish all our young summer staff success in their various university courses. Forty of our goats have been transferred up the M3 to Kent where they have the job of clearing the shrubs and overgrown brambles from a power station. Goats are browsers—not grazers, so are absolutely ideal for this task. Don’t ever buy a goat in the hope of getting yourself a cheap lawnmower, as they will make a beeline for your best shrubs and flowers well before they even consider taking a nibble at the lawn! Hopefully, this is a new outlet for our larger goats, as we have an on-going agreement to provide other sites in the country with over three hundred goats. We just hope that they are behaving themselves!

In my last blog, I mentioned my absolute privilege of meeting the Queen. Well, I was talking to a six year old boy about this, and he asked me: “Farmer Bryan, if the Queen married you, would you be called King Farmer Bryan?” …..That’s why I love my job. We are setting up for our annual vintage tractor weekend on the 22nd &23rd September. Hopefully the sun will shine on us that weekend. There will be lots of bygone sights to see including vintage tractors, engines, a working Victorian kitchen and a saw mill. The children love the working crane and, weather permitting, there will be the popular tractors v children tug of war as well as a tractor parade. Crafts too, so lots to see and do. Hope to see you soon. Farmer Bryan