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!

Down on the Farm

Naomi House visit local farm

One of the children enjoys playing with baby chick

A lot of respite activities take place within Naomi House or jacksplace for example hydrotherapy, music therapy and messy play. However it is not uncommon for respite activities to take place outside the hospices, the most recent of which was at a local Farm.

During one particularly busy week in Naomi House all of the children, accompanied by staff visited Longdown activity farm just outside the New Forest.

An impromptu visit, the children instantly received a very warm welcome from all of the staff at the farm and nothing was too much trouble. To their delight the staff kindly shut off an area of the petting zoo to the public so the children could have it all to themselves. This gave them a priceless opportunity to play and feed the animals, including goats, calves and baby chicks. Many of the children also jumped at the chance to feed the horses carrots, which the farm provided.

Visiting Longdown activity farm was a valuable experience for all of the children and for many of them was like nothing they had done before. It was also a great opportunity for the children to have fun with their friends in the safe surroundings of the care team. All of the farm's facilities had fantastic disabled access which enabled each child to roam throughout without a worry.

Around 90% of the funding Naomi House relies on is provided by its supporters whether it be individuals, companies or volunteers. This is just one of the examples of what their hard work helps to achieve.

All the children and Naomi House staff thoroughly enjoyed their morning at Longdown activity farm and are keen to pay them another visit in the near future. Claire Floyd is a member of the play team and helped to organise the farm visit. She said, “All the children had a great time and the staff there we’re all fantastic, they could not have been more helpful

Open again

What a winter! Snow freezing conditions followed by more than our fair share of rain, without exception all our animals were grateful in having a roof over their heads during the coldest days, even Billy (the Shire) was reluctant to gallop round the feild on several occasssions,the goats simply refused to take one stepoutside.

A major part of our winter has been taken up by hostingofficials from The Health and Safety Executive andvarious other decision makers. who have had the delicate task of deciding if children should be permitted to contact with animals at open farms, after hours of discussions and debates, throughout the country, I am pleased to be able to confirm that commonsense has prevailed, and the entire group supports open farms fully, as long as they are prepared to follow a strict code of practice, which is already fully adhered to at Longdown Activity farm, so in a nutshell it is business as usual, you will notice a few changes, such as more hand wash pointsand the removal of 'Hand Gels' and some animals will now have to be doubled fenced, we fully supporrt the HSE's decision.

Our Grey Faced Dartmoor sheep are dropping their lambs at an alarming rate, we didn't want them to start until March, but it seems that the Ram was in a hurry, so far all the ewes have produced twins, and all mums are doing an excellent job in looking after the, meaning that we have not had to bottle feed any as yet, however we now have 50 plus goat kids needing their bottles of milk twice a day, due to the colder weather we have kept the smaller kids under heat lampsuntil they are strong enoughto join the others.We are often asked why we do not encourage bottle feeding of lambs, yet we pratice baby goat feeding, the reason is simply that it is extremley difficult sourcing lambs from flocks that are completley free of Toxoplasmosis, therefore they would incur a high risk to pregnant mums,in our opinion it's simply not worth taking that chance.
We are waiting for Hannah (large white pig) to produce her litter, shedoes have a habit of pretending to be close, so that she is moved into the Farrowing unit, here she gets special treatment and a few extra nuts a day, over her last 5 births she has been 3 weeks late, possibly just making the most of her home comforts.

The first batch of calves have arreived, 15 Aberdeen Angus cross calves, yes they are the all black ones with eyelashes that all the girls love, and Becky who looks after the calves is already insisting that we keep the 'cutest one'

Hope to see you soon

Farmer Bryan

Summer has gone!

The rush of the school holidays is now over, on some days it seems very quiet at the farm, however there is still lots to do for the farm staff, and preparations are underway for our Vintage Rally in October (23rd & 24th)
This is the time of year that we sell on some of our animals, Stevie our Miniature Shetland pony has gone to Basingstoke to keep another small pony company, local farmers are purchasing our 'weaner' pigs to clear the acorns up from their fields.
Peter our Alpaca is in disgrace, not only has he fallen out with his life long companions, now he has started to attack the staff at Longdown, as we enter into his enclosure he comes charging with head down and hissing through his teeth, there is no way that he goes round you, so if you cannot clear a five bar gate, then he will flatten you! Rest assured he is contained in the chicken run at the moment for his and every one elses safety.

Hope to see you soon.

Farmer Bryan

Dorren has calved at last

Better late than never so they say, Doreen decided to have her calves on Sunday, the furthest area away from the farm as possible (just as awkward as Doreen in the tea room)
She started about 6 in the morning and the first calf poked his head out about 2.30 in the afternoon, then the second one - yes TWINS - appeared by 3 o'clock.
Approximately 7% of cows have twins, these two were 1 male and 1 female, unfortunately it is rare to be able to breed from a female if it's twin to a boy, these are called 'free martins'

Our latest addition of four Highland calves have been a great attraction, especially for those visitors who witnessed me being dragged around the yard by this hairy little monster, determined to get a bottle of milk down it, eventually I gave up after being drenched by the flying bottle, however after a few days of coaxing and swearing, our little friends enjoy their bottles.

Please note that I have borrowed the pictures of the calves as I have not mastered our new camera as yet.


Hope to see you soon.

Pigs galore

Who said all pigs are pink?
We have just taken on 43 pigs of all colours, some black and white others orange and a few with dots on, what a mixture, these are 'store pigs' our job is to feed them until they weigh about 40 kilograms then other farmers purchase them from us, your job is to feed them for us each day about 12-30,the mucking out is left to Farmer Bryan!

Also today we have had 4 Highland calves delivered in, unfortunately their mothers do not have enough milk to feed them (a common trait with Highland cattle) so our job is to get them used to people and a change from real milk to a milk substitute, not an easy task as they are pretty wild to say the least,patience is a virtue, so they say.
See you soon.
Farmer Bryan

Whats new this week

Another school holiday already, that means we have been busy stocking up on all the animals, another batch of calves will be arriving this week along with about 60 more pigs!
50 chicks and lots of small rabbits, and guess what even more goats another 40 due in this week.
Guess what Doreen the cow has not produced her calf yet but it will most likely happen this week - never know your luck you might be lucky enough to witness a calf being born.
Pleased to tell you the 'bumpy tractor' rides are back on again.
Lastly the Pony rides are happening every day this week right up to the 6th June.
Hope to see you soon