Trip to Foxdown Children's Farm 25.9.23

We had such a fantastic time at Foxdown Children's farm today with teacher and farmer, Shelley! Shelley took us on a tour of the farm and told us all about how she cares for the animals that live there. We met all the animals and helped to feed them!

First we met some pekin ducks and runner ducks (with long tall necks) and watched as they ate the food that had been mixed with water for them. They were very messy eaters and got their food all over their heads and bodies!! We learnt that male ducks are called drakes and have little curled tailfeathers! Female ducks are called hens and lay eggs. Inside the duck house there was a collection of freshly laid eggs! Shelley says that duck eggs make especially delicious cakes. She told us she is going to put these eggs in her incubator to keep them warm so they can hatch as new baby ducklings. We then met some friendly (and greedy!) pygmy goats and helped to feed them through the fence. We then met Noddy the donkey who was doing a lot of 'braying' (we learnt that horses neigh and donkeys bray). Noddy liked having a munch on hay and a carrot from Shelley. Shelley explained that donkeys have to see the animal dentist to help look after their teeth! We then met some pigs who were very happy to see us! We threw them apples and pig 'nuts' over the fence for them to forage because Shelley says pigs use their noses to push around in the mud looking for food. The pigs even 'sat' for a carrot treat just like a well trained dog! We also met two lovely shetland ponies called Bertie and Cookie. Shelley told us that they love rolling in the mud and in the winter often look like mud monsters! We then went to see a very big pig and some Zwartbles sheep and lambs. They were brown and black with little white socks! We fed them by hand too. We then went to see three male pygmy goats who had big horns and liked playfighting with each other and some larger goats with floppy ears. We also saw some little calves that were being looked after in the small barn before going back out onto the big farm with the grown up cows.

After lunch we had fun playing on the outdoor equipment then played with the farm toys. Shelley then introduced us to the smaller animals that live on her farm including baby turkeys, ducklings, guinea pigs and rabbits. We even met a teeny tiny 1 week old baby rabbit! We took it in turns to sit with a cushion on our lap and handle the guinea pigs and rabbits. Everyone showed lots of courage, even if they were feeling a little unsure. The children were so gentle and gave the little animals some lovely strokes. The guinea pigs even squeaked for us!

Well done, everyone! I was so proud of you all. You all listened so carefully to Shelly as she was teaching us about her farm and were so caring towards the animals. We had such a great time learning about these farm animals and finding out what farmers need to do to care for them.