Communications team volunteer Hope updates on the latest animal news now we are in to the full swing of spring.
As the chaos of coronavirus continues to disrupt society, many people, myself included, have sought solace and comfort in the arrival of Spring and the reassuring normality of the changing of the seasons.
It has been a joy to see that life does go on and spring has sprung at the Farm despite the world slowing down in lots of other ways.
The first new arrivals of 2020 came into the world just under two weeks before lockdown started. Pop gave birth to two kids (a boy and a girl) on the 3rd March.
Since then, there have been 12 lambs born, three of which were triplets – well done Winifred! Four of the lambs were born to the Ryeland sheep and eight were from the Soays. You can take a look at our social media pages for some incredibly sweet and aw-worthy photos and videos.
The chickens and ducks have also been busy; there are currently 13 chicks and 5 ducklings on the farm too.
Kat and Mars (our resident pigs) are still together in the same pen and excitingly are expecting! Kat is due to have piglets at the end of June or early July.
Due to lockdown, the structure of how the farm is run has had to be rethought and the way Tom (our Farmyard Manager) and his team are looking after the animals has changed.
We are limited in the number of volunteers we can have on site and only the very local ones are able to come in to help with the animals.
In addition to the arrival of baby animals, Spring also means that it’s sheep-shearing time! Shearing happens once a year and is advisable for the health and hygiene of the animal. It also allows them to be comfortable during the warm weather as excess wool obstructs the ability of the sheep to regulate their body temperatures.
The shears arrived last week and the team spent some of the early May bank holiday weekend shearing.
