Autumn at the Farm!
Autumn seems to have arrived very quickly this year after a disappointing summer weather-wise on the whole. Our activity programme was a huge success and we delivered hundreds of hatchery talks, meet the piglets and goat kids, Little Grey Fergie singalongs and sheep races over the five weeks. Not that there is ever any rest in farming and autumn is one of the busiest times of year as you’ll see…
Equines
Sensation turned 7 in July and we celebrated with a hack out into the park for her and Friar. We are still keeping everything crossed that our brood mare, Tabby, is in-foal for next spring. Friar is keeping us on our toes with his usual mischievous ways! The main thing in autumn is keeping the horses and donkeys off the ‘mast’ or acorns and beech nuts etc, that they love to eat, but that aren’t particularly great for their stomachs or waistlines!
Pigs
Skye and Susie have been weaned and are currently having a well-deserved rest! Skye had reared a big litter of 12 piglets so she was very happy to get a break. Bonnie and Luna are due to farrow at the middle and end of October for the half term holiday. Then Martha will have our Christmas litter of piglets.
Sheep
The ewes will be checked over ready for running with the tup (ram) in November for an early April lambing. This year’s lambs are fattening on the last of the summer grass. We have chosen the gimmer (ewe) lambs that will stay on the farm to be breeding sheep in the future. The tups will get some extra TLC to make sure they are in top condition to work the ewes in November.
Cows
Gracie and Hetty calved two lovely heifers this year plus we had four calves from our Red Poll herd. The Red Poll bull is already here to get the ladies pregnant again for next summer and we are busy AI’ing (Artificial Insemination) our dairy herd which includes Berry (our Jersey), Gracie (our Guernsey) and Jasmine (our JerseyX) so we can do our milking demos next summer as well.
Goats
We welcomed Rose, Ivy and Lilly, our three gorgeous Golden Guernsey goat kids, this year. They will be weaned this autumn from mums Emily and Honey and will stay on the farm for now. Did you know that King Charles has bequeathed the title of ‘Royal’ onto all Golden Guernsey goats? So we have some very special goats right here on the farm.
Poultry
After a full-on summer of ‘Meet the Chicks’, the hatchery is now closed for the winter season and we won’t be hatching any more chicks out until April next year. It gets far too cold at night now for chicks to thrive. All our poultry is free range and can be seen around the farm, often stealing people’s picnics!
This season we also celebrate our Harvest Festival on the 28/29th September. This is such an important event in the farming calendar when we take time to reflect on all the gifts of the spring and summer months and give thanks for the Harvest being gathered in safely ready for winter. Then you can come and pick your very own pumpkin off our patch on 19/20th Oct and then 26th-31st Oct (not Monday). We have lots of varieties to choose from so don’t forget to book online….
Newsletter compiled by the Farm Team.
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