Farmer Sarah’s Rare Breed adventure… Part 2!

Those of you who have been following us for a while will know all about my adventure with our rare-breeds, and how we have been expanding the farm with these animals. In part one of this blog, I spoke about the animals that we already had, and began getting using the RBST watchlist as a brilliant resource when looking at new animals to bring to the farm.

In the past year, we have expanded our rare-breed animals even more, so in the part 2 blog, I will talk to you all about the new wonderful rare-breed animals we now have, the stressful moments of bringing them in, and all about our inspection with the Rare-breed survival trust.

Poultry has always been a big part of the farm, so it was very important that we began to introduce some rare-breeds of poultry. Farmer Simon and his team worked very hard at getting our new poultry area ready, and all that left me to do was fill up the pens! My go to person to help with the poultry, ducks and geese, is Eddie, who is just down the road from us and is also very passionate about the rare-breeds he keeps. Eddie is great and helps the farm out with anything that he can. So, when I took the alpacas to be sheared at his stables, I was able to have a good chat about chickens with him, and within a few weeks after this, our incubator had never been so full of rare-breed eggs! With the help of others like Eddie, all of the hatching went exceptionally well, and I feel more ready than ever to navigate my way through the rare-breed world further.

In August 2023, we decided to bring two female Sebastopol geese to the farm, who we got from Richard, the president of the British Waterfowl Association. Farmer Tom went to pick them up and bring them back to the farm, which was an exciting day for everybody. The November after this, we decided to get a male Sebastopol goose for the farm, who came from Steve at Cheshire poultry. So Farmer Freya went on her way for the collection, and we brought him back to the farm to meet the ladies! Recently, we hatched our first Sebastopol goose egg, and they will join the other three once it is big enough for the water.

Another exciting new rare-breed that we now have on the farm is our Old English goats. We had been on the waiting list for a short while with the Old English goat society, and eventually in August 2023, we got the call that some were available for us! So, off Farmer Tom and Farmer Sarah went, for an exciting road trip to pick the girls up.

The reason it can take so long to get some of these rare-breeds is simply because they are extremely rare, and we need to find the right breeds for us as a farm park. Therefore, it becomes a longer and more important process that simply just getting new animals at the farm, we want to do it right!

In January 2023, Farmer Tom and Hayley travelled to Cornwall to pick up an Old English billy goat for breeding. We borrowed the billy goat from the Old English goat society, and the breeding was successful. Our girls kidded 3 weeks ago… they are so cute!

You would have seen that we have had some beautiful kids and lambs here at the farm over the past few months. In February we lambed our Greyface Dartmoor’s, who at the time were an at risk breed. These guys love being here at the farm, especially when they were old enough to be released into their new field! As well as these, we kidded our Golden Guernsey’s in April this year and these made a wonderful addition to the Silver Barn, as they are a lot of peoples favourites (including mine) and of course… they are a rare-breed!

Then came the time when I decided we were ready for an inspection to become accredited as a Rare Breed Survival Trust Approved Farm Park. I knew that this may be difficult, but I was up for the challenge, so I decided to go for it. In January 2024, I filled out the application for this inspection. I was then given a date in April for this inspection, so it was time to make sure everything was ready.

I did have an absolute nightmare only days before our inspection, as the new RBST Watchlist was released, and to my horror, Greyface Dartmoor sheep had dropped down “other native breeds” and were no longer at risk, this was rather annoying after we had lambed our gorgeous Greyfaces in February, but we can still acknowledge them as an important breed! However, all poultry had now become a priority, and we keep lots of these here at the farm.

Andrea, the conservation advisor from the Rare Breed Survival Trust came along to do our inspection. She did lots of looking around, checking our registered stock, the animals health and that we were members of all the associations. It is important that we can prove the breeding of these rare-breeds, and not the point of just keeping them. She was very accommodating and also taught us a lot! After this, it was a very long wait to find out if we had been accredited this or not, but we had been! This made the whole Rare-breed adventure even more exciting, as the farms hard work had paid off and been recognised.

We still want to continue our growth with a swing in our step, and our Oxford Sandy and Black pigs, Little T and Nibbly are due to farrow in July. We are still having 4 litters of piglets a year, and we can’t wait to see their adorable little snouts!