News from the farm

Springtime at the farm

Sunday 8th April 2012 10:04 PM

Welcome and hello to everyone!

Well at long last its finally springtime! Lets hope it will be a warm and dry spring/summer as the mud, snow and dark nights have been hard. Farming of any kind is just so much harder in the winter.

Its long relentless days that never seem end, then, just when you can't take anymore the Spring arrives and reminds you why its good to have a farm!

Well alsorts has been happening over the winter, we have another perfect litter of Kune Kune piglets- 3 little boys and 2 little girls who are now six weeks old and doing very well!

On a really sad note, very suddenly we woke one morning to find our Tricky pony in a state of collapse, sadly dispite our very best efforts, things went downhill very quickly with his health over the week and resulted in him having to be put to sleep. Heartbroken has not been the word!

When you have had a little pony for so long and he has looked after your children when they were small and shared so much of our lifes, its been really hard to accept he has gone. Tricky was a little pony with a very big heart, he always gave his all and owed us nothing. We are so sad to have lost the kids first pony and our true friend, especially when even though he was 23, we did think he had more than a few years left in him yet!

So RIP to our special little man, we love you and will miss you always!

Anyway with the spring comes the yearly list of new job's that will need doing so no rest for the wicked- this place is always work in progress and so we will plough on and keep you updated!

Our on site grooming salon is still doing very well and we have been amazed at the local support of our business. We have worked so hard to build up a solid reputation of outstanding animal care, and we really love our job!

Remember we offer grooming for the dog, cat and small animal and I am full City and Guilds qualified. I take my commitment and responsibility to your animals care very seriously.

The salon offers one to one grooming , which keeps stress to the animal at an absolutle minimum. We believe we are the kind of salon your pet would choose!

As we groom on a one to one basis, appointments can go quickly, so please book early to ensure that you are given the time and date of your choice- we look forward to welcoming you to our salon!

Posted 10:04 PM | 0 Comments | Permalink

A Blustery New Year!

Tuesday 3rd January 2012 9:06 AM

Hello Folks!

First of all everyone human and furry at the farm would like to wish all our customers and friends a very HAPPY NEW YEAR! We thank you very much for your support of our farm during 2011 and wish you, your families and of course your furry friends much health, weath and happiness during the course of 2012!.

Well its a very blustery start to the year and the wind seems to just be getting stronger- not good news at the farm as it does make every job much more difficult, although to be honest we should not complain as it could be worse, it could be wind with snow mixed in too ha ha!.

I was working out today that its only 7 weeks now to go untill March and the start of spring so lots to look forward to!

At the farm, much time has been spent just coping with all the extra jobs that we have to do in the winter as all the horses are in at night. We have also been busy over the Christmas period in the grooming salon fitting everyones dogs in for a groom and pamper and so our canine friends could also look their very best on Christmas day!

Once spring starts we will begin with the next gazillion jobs on the list for improving the farm and farm house!

On the Animal fronts there have been a development or two- we have said goodbye to our beautiful Shetland Mare Susie, we are very sad but our decision was mostly based on a total lack of time to spend with a horse that we cannot do much with or cannot ride, she has gone to the most fantastic home with lots of tiny tots to fuss and ride her and we could not ask for more. It was the right decison for Susie, however we miss her terribly!

Our Kune Kune piggy sows are all expecting another round of piglets so we should hear the pitter patter of tiny trotters again at the farm very soon!

We have also welcome another dog to our Miniature Schnauzer family, Madge a 3 1/2 year old Salt and Pepper Bitch!

One development is that sadly the farm is NO LONGER offering our home boarding service. I know that this will be a huge disappointment to our customers and it was not a decision that we have taken lightly. Our main reasons are lack of time to spend with the visiting dogs due to the demands of the grooming salon, also not every dog was suitable to be around pigs and horses or even in fact our own dogs, which was a risk to both our own animals and also the boarding dogs. A risk that we were not prepared to take, as we took our responsibiliy to your animals very seriously so the service needed to come to a close.

I will keep you posted with developments as they happen!

The farms grooming salon continues to do well and we are so grateful to both our human and furry customers for their loyalty to our salon! We love our job so much and work very hard to give our customers a top quality service and huge commitments to their animals.

Appointments are on a one on one basis only so we can fill quickly, please contact us either by phone on 07891374894 or via our contact page to book an appointment for your pet!- we look forward to welcoming you both to our salon!

Once again Happy New Year to you all , untill the next time.....

Posted 9:06 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink

Winter is setting in!

Friday 25th November 2011 3:16 PM

Hello to all!

Sorry we have not blogged for a while at the farm, the days have just been speeding passed in a complete blur!. Its been a combination of the horses now coming in at night and all the jobs that goes with the increased care as well as working all day in the grooming salon.

One bonus is that I have not even had time to suffer with the low mood that usually comes hand in hand with the dark nights setting in- yippee!

All is well at the farm, we have been pottering away with the usual long list of jobs that need doing here! some good news is that after the years of work we have put into the yard and outside of the farm, we have finally started on the very run down farm house!. First job has been the replacement of all the windows- just in time for the winter. Lets hope if the rumors are true and we do reach minus 28 degrees that they go some way to helping keep the heat in!

Next job will be to sort out the huge damp problem we have, maybe sometime in the distant furture we will finally be able to get warm when we come into the house!

On the animal fronts we have the following exciting updates:

Our new Tutaki Kune Kune Boar Sherman arrived safe and well from Herefordshire (Thank You Wendy), to join our resident piggy family!

He is a stunning chap and is very much enjoying being free range with his ladies One eyed Jammy Pig, Mif pig and Hazel pig!

Two of our resident Kune Kune ladies have had more babies since our last farm blog. Miley pig had 5 babies and Hazel just had 2 giant piglets!

Miley is now living with Boris boar and Hazel has joined team Sherman so hopefully they will both deliver more piglets during the next 4 months or so.

Mif pig has also spent private time with Sherman so hopefully she will also deliver!

Our beautiful Miniature Schnauzer Bitch Lexi gave birth to her first litter of 3 healthy puppies at the end of October, the puppies are absolutely beautiful and Lexi is a very proud mummy! Here she is with her just born litter, cuddling them very close! We have a boy and 2 girls and am pleased to say they are all going to lovely new homes at the end of the year!

On the horse front with a very heavy heart we have said goodbye to our beautiful dun Bertie Bassett. My youngest daugher has steadily lost interest over the last few years and its a real shame but we can't force her to like horses when she much preferes football and Bertie is way too good to just sit in a field.

He was snapped up as he is so genuine and is now in a fantastc loving home with Bethany down south. We are very much in touch and are very pleased that Bertie has given Bethany her confidence back and they are making a great team!

Our On site grooming salon is doing very well and we just love our job of grooming both dogs and cats!

We only groom one on one so our salon is kept as stress free as possible for the animals who visit. I am a fully City and Guilds qualified groomer and take the care and well being of your pet very seriously. We are very proud of the work turned out and believe our reputation now speaks for itself.

Please contact the farm to make a booking for your pet to be groomed, we can usually work around the times you require and also offer a pick up and delivery service too!

Finally 2012 will see the launch of our home reared free range pork sausages- all very exciting and more information will be provided in due course- watch this space!

Right better dash.. there is work to do!

Untill the next time.....

Posted 3:16 PM | 0 Comments | Permalink

A jam packed August!

Friday 26th August 2011 2:45 PM

Hello everyone!

We do hope that your summer has been going well and you have taken full advantage of all the lovely sun we have been having, the freezing temperatures of last years winter seem a very long time ago, here is hoping the coming winter is not as bad!

July and August have been very busy months at the farm and seemed to have passed in one huge blur to be honest!

Building wise we have had the side of the barn tarmaced in preparation for the winter bringing in daily of the horses- this hopefully will ensure that we are not knee deep in mud every night while turning out and bringing in!

Most of the fencing has now been newly done and completed post and rail with a mains electric wire to prevent the animals leaning on it!

Excitingly we have also finally begun the work on the farms 20 x 40 riding arena and after 6 long days of digging into the hill we FINALLY have the dig completed and an arena shape at last- Many thanks to Adam and his team who have done a fantastic job!- see picture what are your thoughts?

The hill needs to set for a couple of months now over the winter so it can set into its own level but we can still ride on it in the meantime yippee!

Very soon into next year we should have a fantastic new and completed arena which I am sure will be worth the wait!

Finally now the outside is looking somewhere near we can begin to start on the inside of the house which will be fantastic as it needs doing so badly!

On the animal front we have a new Horse member in Susie the Shetland, she belongs to my daughter and if we are honest has quickly stolen all of our hearts with her cheeky ways- the only problem we have had is that Susie is only 9 hands and can't see out of the stables so my husband has made her a little window so she can see out- Here she is watching the goings on with interest ha ha

Our other ponies have been busy hacking and going to Pony Club camp where they have had a fantastic time!

Our Black Miniature Schnauzer at stud Ozzy has become a dad a few times over and has sired the most beautiful jet black puppies EVER! He is really enjoying his job of serving the visiting ladies as I am sure that you can imagine ha ha!

We are just awaiting Lexi dogs season so we can use Ozzy to put her in pup finally so we are hoping all being well to be expecting the first of the farms Miniature Schnauzer puppies around November time! Contact us should you be interested in a puppy from the farm!

The Kune Kune pigs are currently all in the yard as their field was dug into with the arena dig so had to be re fenced, so we are using the oppurtunity to let them each have time with the boar so in 3 months time we should again hear the pitter patter of tiny trotters at the farm!

When the pigs do go into their newly fenced field they have the wonderful surprise of a lovely new ark! Its all singing and dancing and should keep all of them lovely and warm this winter! Here is a picture of the ark arriving- WOW

Finally on the pig front we are VERY excited to be welcoming a new Kune Kune Boar to the Windy Bank Herd of Kune Kune Pigs- Sherman a boar from the Tutaki bloodline arrives very soon- we think he is very handsome, I wonder if the resident ladies will think so too?

Please contact us if you would like to use our boar stud services with either our Te Wangi Boar Boris or Our Tutaki Boar Sherman!

Our On site dog and cat grooming salon continues to do very well and we are very grateful to all our customers and their doggie friends for their custom.

We offer one on one grooming and like to think we offer a non stressful animal friendly salon - the sort of salon that your pet would choose himself if he could!

I am a fully qualified City and Guilds Groomer and take my commitment to your animals care very seriously! Please contact us direct to book the best time for your pet to come, we look forward to welcoming you all to the farm!

We also offer fully licenced Home Boarding services to dogs, which is an alternative to boarding your dog in a kennel. Your dog will live with us as part of our family and have a holiday too!

Dogs love it here and settle quickly, they have tons of space and a loving family to care for them, we are confident they will have a great time!

Our Current Home Boarder is Molly the German Shepard Cross - see picture below of Molly helping to bring the horses in!

Please be aware the sooner you book the better, we fill quickly especially during school holiday times- you can check availability here

Thanks again to all our customers for your continued support of our farm, Untill the next time.....

Posted 2:45 PM | 0 Comments | Permalink

As the summer turns its all go at the farm!

Sunday 26th June 2011 7:54 PM

Hello folks, sorry its taken us so long to blog again- we are just busy with a capital B this year, its been totally manic!

All the farms animals are out on the fields enjoying summer to the full- just how it should be!

News from the Kunes is that sadly the ' miflets' from our well known sow Mif never happened? It was all very odd she swelled, had an udder and in fact showed all the signs of an inniment labour but no piglets! We spent weeks going down the ' is she' ' is she not' route untill we had to admit defeat and pop her back into the field as no piglets came!. ' PHANTOM PREGNANCY' I hear you ask?- quite possibly we reply!. Here she is on her due date- what are your thoughts?!

The other Kune girls Miley and Hazel should again be pregnant anyway so we have 2 more litters to look forward to over the next month or so and Mif ?- well we will just have to wait and see!

Jemima pig and her partner in crime Paddington Boar at almost ready to go into their paddock- up to now they have been still just a little too small and I have been worried they can get under the fence! They will be much happier I am sure once their lifes are also free range although maybe they will miss being yard pigs!

Paddington is still for sale and is an entire boar for breeding home only! He is breed standard with 2 piris/ 10 teats and is registered with the British Kune Kune Pig Society as breeding stock too! He is tri coloured and Te Wangi/ Kereopa lines. Padddington is a VERY handsome chap if we do say so ourselves and we look forward to placing him in a good breeding home and seeing the first of his off spring in the months to come!. Please contact us to view or re home Paddington Pig!

The horses are all doing very well and are looking fantastic thanks to an injection of spring grass! They are all very much enjoying being out for the summer and in turn we are enjoying all the fantastic summer hacking! I have been getting out and about with my Cob Boo! The other day we went to Hopton woods with some friends hacking and all had a brilliant time!. We are still hoping to get out to the beach- I will update you with photos and news as soon as we get over there!

On the farm work is still going on- phase 1 of the fencing has been completed and phase 2 is starting this week! It all looks fantastic and is doing its job of keeping the horses in the correct paddocks with the help of the strong eletric current ha ha!

We have installed CCTV to help with our security and are hoping to dig out our new arena over the next month!- all very exciting!

Finally then we may be able to start the house! - we are all looking forward to living in more comfort inside especially in these very cold winters we seem to be having!

Our on site grooming salon continues to grow- we absolutely love our grooming job- it really is the best job in the world! We are very grateful to all our canine friends and their owners of course who support our salon!

Don't forget our salon offers:

• One to one grooming- we only ever groom one dog at a time!
• Collection service for your pet if you struggle to get to us!
• City and Guilds Qualified Groomer!

A new addition to our salon is that we now offer CAT GROOMING- please contact us to book in your cat at the farm!

We also still offer Home Boarding for your dog and doggie day care- please book early to avoid disappointment!

You can check availability for Dog Boarding on our availability pages!

Hope you are all too enjoying the beautiful summer we are having! I will update you from the farm and furries soon!

Untill the next time!

Posted 7:54 PM | 0 Comments | Permalink