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!

Spring has Sprung at Morvern – lots of babies

Our first new born lambs of 2011 are here! One little boy named ‘Shaun the Sheep’ and a girl named ‘Barbara’.

Shaun is solid black lamb. Barbara has really unusual colouring for a Suffolk lamb as she is light and spotty so they are really easy to tell apart.

The lambs will be cute and little for four or five months – skipping and hopping around the Morvern Valley paddocks drinking from their mums.

When the baby lambs latch onto their mums, their little tails start to wiggle high in the air. This shows the lamb is getting its milk – and if it’s the least bit quiet you can even hear them guzzling! Sometimes when they are finished feeding they will have a little milk foam on the side just like a moustache, it is so cute!