A Large New Arrival and a Poorly Goat

Dora and her calf

Dora, our Highland cow, has given birth to a large boy calf weighing in at 36kg. She 
quietly wandered down to the bottom of the field and had her calf early one morning. Once the calf was born, she wanted to tell the world, bellowing very loudly. Conor was like a proud dad as he went down to check the baby calf. We have brought Dora and the calf up to the main farm so that we can monitor them and put the ear tags into the calf’s ears, as this is a legal requirement and must be done within the first seven days after birth. The calf will then be issued with a passport – yes, all cows have a passport!

My farming friends will give me grief when they realise how much I spent on veterinary bills on one of our smaller goats. Louise was feeding the goats one morning and noticed that one of her favourites (bear in mind she has over 300 goats) was limping badly. When we looked at it more closely it was obvious that this poor little fella had broken the bottom part of his leg. At this point a ‘real’ farmer would have this small goat put down as it is only worth £20, but as I watched Louise trying hard to hide the tears, I phoned Sarah the vet to come out as soon as possible to try to splint the leg. Even vet  Sarah sounded surprised as she questioned me about the possible cost of this procedure. “Let’s give it a try", I said. Now you can look out for ‘Leggy’ hopping around the yard with his pink bandage on. Would anyone like to purchase a goat which is now worth over £400?

Talking of babies, it seems that Kylie has now realised her donkeys are simply too fat and that they are not so heavy in foal as she had once thought. She has now put them on a diet, poor things.

We have started to think up new ideas for our area at the New Forest Show - our aim is to make it as "hands on" as possible and have considered many different activities, however I'm not sure how the Health and Safety executive will react to some of our ideas! 

Spotty, the Kune Kune pig, and her piglets have outstayed their welcome in the animal encounter area after she decided to remove the boards along the outside wall and then kept turning her water trough upside down. She was given her marching orders and sent back to the Farrowing unit, which is where you will see her with her litter now.

Ducks and ducklings seem to be the 'in' pets this year: we have sold so many despite us warning people that they are the muckiest creatures on earth. We also have had some cute houses made to keep them safe from the fox, so they’ve been popular too.

New Forest Tour - we're on the Red Route

We’re now on the  New Forest Bus Tour (red route) from 28th June—to 14th Sept 2014, so hop on for a fun trip around the Forest after your visit to the Farm. 

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.

A Baby Bonanza and Duck Decisions

We have enjoyed a bit of a baby bonanza these last few weeks: Bubble and Squeak, our two Kune Kune sister pigs, have given birth to a total of 15 piglets. They decided that they wanted to share their litters, so all the piglets take turns on both mums at mealtimes, and as piglets like to suckle every 45 minutes day and night, the mums are delighted to share the burden. Our Pygmy goats have been busy delivering their kids, which have produced a big ‘ahh factor’ for the visitors. Even I would admit that they are very cute! Unfortunately, one of the Mums was immune to her kid’s cute factor, so Kim and Rachael have had to step in as surrogate mothers, and train the little one to drink powdered milk from the bottle. Jack’s first midwifery practice came sooner than he expected: we heard a panic stricken voice come over the radio: “I think Kerry cow’s waters have broken”. When there was no response, another call: “The feet are showing”, then in desperation, the next call came through: “HELP”. By this time, Kerry had pushed her 85lb baby boy out with very little effort, and Jack was looking over it like any proud dad. By the time the rest of the staff arrived, he was rolling his sleeves down explaining that he had managed this one all on his own - easy work, no problem! Not to be left out, the grumpy geese have also produced four little goslings, who are being guarded by a very protective Daddy—as Kim found out the other day! We sell quite a few ducks to people who either like duck eggs, or have a pond that they’d like to stock. Recently, a gentleman and his wife arrived to discuss the purchase of one male duck, as their old duck had been taken by the fox. They wanted to be sure that the duck was going to settle in with its new wife, so we explained how to introduce them, what to feed and what not to feed them, and the sort of housing required. The discussion then went into how to protect them from the fox. After an hour of intense questioning, the couple went off to discuss the proposed purchase with their neighbours, and to our surprise, the following morning the couple returned with their neighbours, and a list of new questions. They requested that we went through all the facts again, and after another hour of debate, they had a vote to decide if they wished to purchase the duck. We were asked to count the votes – all four. I am pleased to say that the vote was unanimously in favour of taking the duck home with them. Currently over 500 school children are visiting the Farm each week. Loaded down with their packed lunches and welly boots, they skip into the farm like newborn lambs, however by the time that they have had their 2½ hour tour, they are on their knees, struggling to carry the now empty lunch boxes back to the coach. It wouldn’t surprise me if half of them are asleep by the time that they reach the A35! Our local animal feed supplier, Fred Norris, has taken early retirement at the age of 95, so Dawn and I thought it would be nice to go out for lunch with him. What a gentleman he is still. I have known him since I was knee high (that’s just a few years ago), and we spent a few hours reminiscing about the good old days when farming was the main occupation in the forest. He really could tell a tale or two about the local farmers, and the antics that they got up to when they were young - things haven’t changed much have they? We wish Fred a very happy retirement - he tells me that he is thinking of breeding rabbits in his spare time……..! There has been a lot of concern over Billy this last month or so, as he spends a lot of his time lying down. He is a great favourite here at the Farm, and is much loved by staff and visitors alike. (And yes, OK, I have a soft spot for him too). We have put a sign on his stable stating that he is getting old, which is true, and this is why he is resting more these days. However, once we removed his new shoes, he galloped out into the field like this year’s foal – he is a bit of a drama queen really…... Finally, These irresistible twosome are our Call duck ducklings that recently hatched. They too, have the ’ahh factor’

Down on the Farm - A New Season Starts

I think my blood must be getting thinner, as the cold days during February were tough going for me. I’m only too pleased to see the end of them. What with the burst pipes throughout the farm and the challenging temperatures for our newborns, it was a pretty horrible month. What made it even worse was the geese didn’t lay me an egg on the 14th of February, like they normally would!
The soft play area has had a spring clean, and a top up of over a thousand plastic balls, so all nice and clean.
We have moved the mini tractors to a smaller site giving way for an all weather, large Go Kart area. Hopefully that will keep the older children (dads) happy as they bomb around the new track on the new fleet of John Deere pedal tractors! The smaller ride-on ones are pink, so it’s going to be heaven for many of our young
farmers! Sharon, who has worked hard to create a cosy tearoom, seems to be happy with the new seating arrangements that we have provided. The tables and benches have certainly tidied up the room allowing lots more people to sit comfortably, and we really have spoilt them by putting in an excellent heating system. It’s amazing what can be done with an old milking shed!
We have said goodbye to some of our key staff as they have moved to pastures new to further their careers. Replacing them is quite a challenging task. With so many applications for each position, it has been extremely difficult to select the type of staff to fit the role, however, we have now employed five new candidates and they are settling into their positions well. It’s not easy for someone to come in from the outside world, and be suddenly thrown into the feeding of sixty-plus hungry goats all demanding the same attention of the 250-odd screaming children wanting to feed the goats at the same time. They also have to contend with me telling them that they must keep smiling, which they do through gritted teeth.
To create our new riding area we have brought in 120 tonnes of wood bark, and put it in deep enough to make any falls off the ponies less of a problem. Although, falling from a 28 inch pony doesn’t come under a ‘high risk’ assessment in my book! Still, that is what the Health and Safety recommends…..
Before we opened on the 11th February, there was a flurry of births. It was all planned (well some of it was): 25 ducklings, 50 chicks, 35 goat kids, 12 calves, a litter of Kune Kune piglets, and not to be left out, the Grey Face Dartmoor ewe gave birth to a set of twins. As for Guinea pigs, I am not sure what Kerry was thinking about when she put her breeding programme into practice! She seemed to have a bit of a ‘moment’. Normally, the first week of opening, we would have ten or so baby guinea pigs (pups) on the ground, but this year I gave up counting when I reached over 60.
Our first weekend of opening was extremely cold, so it was surprising how many people ventured out to look around the farm, but as the half term week went by it got warmer, and soon we reached saturation point. Well, at least the car park did, we struggled to accommodate all the cars; we even took over the church car park (thank you Reverend Kate).
Our ‘ We Love Ponies’ day was a great success. Lots of children and adults had a go at grooming, children enjoyed the riding, and just learning more about ponies. After Easter, we will be hosting pony riding lessons for the younger children.
It’s nice to be open again, seeing and hearing all the happy children, and the, sometimes grumpy, adults!