OUR FARMYARD ANIMALS AND VISITING CHILDREN
Our farm is a working farm. As well as
the dairy cows and the
horses we have a wide variety of other animals here in the
farmyard. Some are rescue cases and others are here to help with the
education of our visiting school children and other young guests as to how to
care for and handle animals.
Nyanza has a lot of children visiting and we always take pleasure in
watching them enjoy the farmyard and interact with the animals. We have many of
them, from the dogs and cats to all the farm animals and they are
good natured and kind. A lot of them of them originate from troubled pasts or
have special needs and have their own story to tell. It makes for an interesting
visit and a wonderful way for children to learn the importance of compassion and
kindness.
So often today children grow up without much exposure to animals and
this is a wonderful opportunity to remedy that gap. It is gratifying
watching
them as they meet all the animals and learn to interact with them and their
various personalities.
Mbali the donkey came in with her son Burri after he was run over by a car. With her friendly personality she is one of the chief attractions and has the knack of making each little person feel extremely loved and wanted. She loves to be groomed and fussed over by them and children staying on the farm spend many happy hours with her. One of her favourite habits is going down to the cottages to join her latest adopted family on the lawn.
Chaklas
and her daughter Chukka are two of the cows from the dairy who always enjoy
having visitors. They are
very calm
and gentle and their favourite treat is to
have their topknots scratched.
The little Jersey calves are another
great attraction. They are small and cute and helping feed them is a whole new
experience for city children.
Jigsaw, Puzzle, and
Sheepish are our two
goats and the sheep (we have just gained another sheep, Lambada, please see the
Latest Additions page for her story) who help with education during the school visits. They also
discuss the farmyard and its activities with our children from the cottages. Jigsaw is part miniature goat and of
course is extra cheeky to make up for his lack of size!
Sheepish is very sweet and gentle and oh so cuddly with her woolly coat. She is ever so grateful she came to Nyanza when she was young rather than head the same way as her brothers and sisters. Even though she is a bit shy she loves having visitors.
Then we have the rabbits who have all been saved from the pot on various occasions, including the ones we call the Nhlangano takeaways... they were being sold on the side of the road in the Nhlangano area for someones evening meal when we saw them. We have gained a few others since then...
Our chickens are a mixture of various
breeds, including Bantam, Polish Pomeranian, Silky and more, which makes for
some very interesting looking
characters. They are usually very good parents and
at any given time there are large families of cute fluffy chicks running around.
Hoppy and Elvis... are two of our chickens with special needs... Elvis is very old and practically blind, and Hoppy has only one leg. We found her with her leg mangled; she must have been stepped on by a horse. It had to be amputated. Luckily our local vet is used to our eccentricities. She is amazing, getting around on one leg as well as any other two legged chicken and raising batches of chicks. The two of them go around together as our odd couple with two of their children, Memphis and Tennessee.
Scatterbrain is another unique chicken... you can imagine her from her name...
As well as the chickens we have the ducks, turkeys, peacocks, geese and guinea fowl.
The turkeys are always at their most
impressive around Christmas, as if to impress us and show how much they are
needed here; they don’t seem to realise that none of
our animals are in danger
of the pot.
They are gorgeous in their ugliness.
The peacocks are beautiful and during mating season spend hours displaying their splendid plumage. Their speciality is parading in front of the cottages seeking admirers.
Our guinea fowl come in twice a day to
be fed and their flock makes an impressive show as they come across the
paddocks. They
work hard keeping our insect pests
under control; during
outbreaks of Army Worm, which can literally decimate the grazing, their
help is
invaluable.
All the poultry is fed twice a day and helping with this is a favourite job for the children staying on the farm, scattering the maize and watching them all come running.
