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.

TERRIFIC TRACTORS AND PIE-EYED IN THE PIGSTY!

Our Vintage Tractor Rally was a great success – well, at least on the Saturday with record numbers of people attending and enjoying the sunshine, and the exhibitors showing off their pride and joy. The craft stalls were kept busy and the atmosphere was terrific; just like a good old country show. The forecast for the Sunday was simply diabolical: wet and windy all day. Now, I do not have much faith in modern technology and computer forecasting, but unfortunately, this time, the weatherman was spot on - it rained and rained and rained; the yards flowed like a river! However, those who did turn up, really did enjoy themselves and had an added bonus of being able to watch a sow farrow down (give birth) in front of them - a total of 7 piglets popped out whilst they were watching. I was a little surprised when I received an invitation to join Dame Mary Fagan (Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire) to a reception. Normally I only receive invites to Farmer club meetings or the local gardening club! Evening suit was the dress code. Dawn soon put me in my place when I asked if she could wash a pair of overalls, and followed on with a statement that haunts me: “You know that you will have to wear a tie?”. Now it takes a wedding or funeral for me to put on a tie, and normally it’s ripped from my collar at the first available opportunity! However, I did as I was told and dressed up for the occasion and was pleased that I made the effort, as it was a very enjoyable evening. It was staged as a thank you to all the New Forest Show members who had made the Queen’s visit to the Show such a memorable occasion - and guess what? I kept my tie on all evening! Once a year, all the cattle, including calves, have to be tested for Bovine Tuberculosis. This dreadful disease has hit the headlines in recent months, as all farmers who keep cattle are very concerned at the alarming rate that TB is spreading throughout the country. It won’t be long before it will affect all the cattle in the New Forest. There is no vaccine licensed to control this disease, so permission has been given to cull badgers in certain areas of the country, as they are believed to be the main carriers. There is a great deal of public debate on the matter at the moment, unfortunately there’s not enough data and true facts available for a judgement to be given. At least all our cattle have been given a clean bill of health for another year. Pigs and goats are leaving Longdown gates each day to all parts of the country and their new 'forever homes', as we reduce our stocks for the winter season. Other open farms are keen to take on some of our goats as they know that they are ‘people-friendly’. Likewise, smallholders are keen to have our pigs. Some animals have travelled to Wales and the West Country, others have headed East to London and Essex, but please do not worry; we will still have plenty of animals left on the farm! Ashurst Community Group held an ‘Apple Day’ where apples are pressed to make into juice or cider. This meant that there was a surplus of apple pulp, which was binned up for the pigs’ breakfast. As the pigs love this pulp, and I was feeling very generous whilst I was feeding them the next morning, each animal received double their normal dietary requirements. It wasn’t until an hour or so later that I noticed that there were no pigs in the outside run! Then it suddenly dawned on me that this pulp was still fermenting! Well, there were 50 or more pigs flat out indoors making some horrific snoring sounds! That lunchtime there was still hardly a pig to be seen for the pig feeding session, and as the staff frantically tried to wake them up, I kept quiet……..

As we close during the whole of November, we will be working hard to make sure that Father Christmas likes his new surroundings in the Straw Den area, which will be where the Longdown Farm Christmas Barn is sited. He has requested lots of animals and plenty of things to keep the children occupied - and most of all a nice warm Grotto. Hopefully we can sort all this out before he arrives on December the 8th. See our website for further details.