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!

A lucky escape

Found beside the road having been hit by a car we turned around and rescued this little snake necked tortoise. His shell was cracked so we cleaned his wound daily and kept him in a small pond feeding him little worms and tiny bits of mince. Today he is much better, we released him to our pond at Morvern Valley with another snake necked tortoise.

This second one was found uninjured, but too terrified to emerge from his shell, understandably so – he was on a very busy main road, upon the double yellow lines!

The heavy rains over the past few months seem to have caused all the tortoises to migrate ponds – sadly many are injured…or even worse. Hopefully this pair will make a new home at Morvern Valley safe from any traffic.

A Gaggle of Very Special Geese

White Giant Embden Geese have come to live at Morvern Valley Farm. “Welcome ‘Honky’!!!” He has two beautiful purebred wives ‘Zinnia’ and ‘Petunia’- fingers crossed for many champion goslings in the future breeding seasons. Embden geese have pure blue eyes and originated in Germany. Embden are the largest geese in the world.

Honky has won many ribbons and is a NSW champion – we have entered him in the 2012 Sydney Royal Easter Show – “Good Luck Honky!”

Morvern Valley has also entered Giant Croad Langshan chickens in blue, a Muscovy drake, and Welsh Harlequin ducks too!