Morvern Valley at the 2012 Sydney Royal Easter Show

Our Welsh Harlequins and Croad Langshans ‘shone’ once again at the Sydney Royal Easter Show.

Our Trio of Giant Blue Croad Langshans, took out  1^st prize for the Rooster, and 1^st and 2^nd prize to the Croad Hens.  Croad Lanshans are huge birds with super gentle natures and feathered legs and feathers all over their feet.

The Welsh Harlequin drake ‘Lucky’ won the beautiful, red, white & blue fringed Champion Ribbon – the third year in a row. Our WH drakes won 1^st and 2^nd prizes. The WH ducks won 1^st 2^nd and 3^rd prizes.

Well done to all of you we are very pleased!

Arts & Crafts First for Us in the Sydney Royal Easter Show!

Julie entered for the first time into the Poultry Art and Craft Open Section. The Open Section includes entries of all forms of art other than paintings and photography.

There were many, many entries including weaving, decoupage, tapestry, ceramics, wood carvings, sculpture and incredibly won 1^st prize.

Her piece was a five piece collection of jewellery  – comprising necklaces, earrings and spectacle chains which utilised hand blown glass candle worked beads, old chicken mesh ( actually cut from the pens J) and black glaze.

It was a real thrill to go to the show and see how well we had done, and we returned to Bundanoon after our day at the show exhausted but happy.

Goslings born at Morvern Valley in April 2012

Our pair of Brown Chinese Geese ‘Ping’ and ‘Pong’ hatched 7 goslings, – a strange time of year but the seasons have been unusual indeed this year!

The proud parents and babies are all doing well and are very cute.  

The Brown Chinese have a large ball shaped dome on their upper beak. They are one of the best natured breeds of geese. Brown Chinese love to talk as they move around. When Ping and Pong first came to live at Morvern we thought there were people quietly talking just outside the window. Whenever they see you will have a gaggle at you.

Brown Chinese were on the endangered list in Australia. They are now becoming stable, with quite a few breeders taking them on board. Our babies are important to the preservation of this breed.

A Foal is due….

Soon we will hear the patter of little hooves here at Morvern Valley. In Spring 2012 a little miniature foal is due to our mare ‘Toffee’ and our stallion ‘Chocolate’.  Toffee is looking lovely and round and is enjoying all the sweet treats we offer.

Miniature horses originated in Europe, in the 1700’s, when royalty kept these tiny equine specimens in their zoos. They are very hardy and often live for between 25 and 30 years. We already know that the foal will be a lovely warm caramel colour and the foal will be named ‘Caramel’.

The baby foal when born will be around 30 cms high and weigh under 10 kilos!

Giant Flemish Rabbits

Wow! These bunnies grow really really big.

We have just built a new enclosure at Morvern Valley and have 5 pure bred Flemish Giant rabbits.

We have one huge adult mum and the rest are her female kittens.

Meat Farming is one of Australia’s fastest growing industries. The CSIRO has been recommending to farmers to keep these rabbits as an alternative source of income diversification from traditional meat industries.

They grow to about 98 cms in length and between 10 and 15 kilograms.

They are a lovely placid breed and we are very happy to welcome these girls to live out their lives peacefully at Morvern.

Favourite foods are hay, but they love leafy greens, carrots, apples and strawberries as a treat too !

Look how large a giant rabbit can grow!