DIARY OF A DAY ON OUR FARM!
IN Nicola Baker’s new book, ten-year-old Ava swaps her home in the city for life on a farm, filled with wellies, mud and messy animals!
Inspiration for the story was all around Nicola, as she and her family live on a farm. Here’s her typical day…
We have a family sheep farm in the Durham hills and before the sun makes an appearance in the sky, the day begins!
Start the day the right way!
First up (and a very important job) is a cup of tea! We tend to head out before breakfast on our farm, as by the time we’ve finished our early jobs we’ve worked up quite an appetite.
Once the tea is drunk and the cats and dogs have been fed, we’re ready to head out, so wellies and overalls are slipped on over our work clothes.
As the back door opens, the miniature donkeys begin to make a lot of noise in anticipation of their breakfast. They’re normally very quiet animals, but at breakfast and bedtime they become very noisy!
Our five donkeys get a breakfast of fresh hay before being let out into their paddock. The pygmy goats are just next door, so they get their breakfast too.
Checking the animals Spring is lambing time (when baby lambs are born), so we head out early to check the fields.
All our sheep live out on the hills and most of them prefer to have their lambs outside. We have an open sheep shed that any of the sheep can go into if they want to, but most stay out on the hills.
Between the family, we’ll check the fields for any new lambs that have been born first thing, as a lot of lambs arrive at dawn or dusk. We make a note of the new arrivals and, if we can get close enough, we’ll check if they’re boys or girls.
Visiting the chickens
I love going into the chicken run – the noises chickens make are wonderful! As we fill up feeders and top up their water, I often talk to the chickens – and they always talk back!
Chickens are very friendly and there’s always a constant level of noise in the barn. While we’re there, we’ll check the incubators for any newly-hatched eggs and take out any chicks that are dry and fluffy.
A day outdoors
After lunch, we’ll be back outside again for the rest of the morning and afternoon, doing whatever needs to be done – whether it’s cleaning out the donkey stables, putting out a bale of hay or repairing a gate latch, there’s always a long list of jobs.
Throughout the day, we’ll keep checking on the sheep in the fields to see if any more are having lambs, usually in our 4x4 buggy or quad bike, which are great fun to drive!
We don’t get many lambs we have to hand-rear with a bottle, but when we do, it’s a lot more work in the day. They need bottle feeding every four hours with special milk, but it’s such a lovely job that we’re never short of volunteers to do it!
There’s always a final check around the farm before the sun goes down to make sure the sheep and lambs are okay – and the chickens, donkeys and goats are safely tucked up for the night!
Life on a farm is great fun.