Families Go Wild in the Farmyard!

We got lots done today at Families Go Wild, and had some helpful new volunteers join us for the day! It rained on us a little bit, but we didn’t let that stop us!

We started off by getting wheelbarrows and the tools we would need for our tasks. We keep our farmyard tools in the hay barn, along with the hay and straw we use for feeding and bedding for the animals. Once we had our tools, we were ready to get to work!

We swept up a lot of poo in the show paddock. We started on the side where Hamish and Hugo were, and then when we thought they were satisfied with its cleanliness, we moved onto the side of the paddock, where the sheep and their lambs were. Hamish and Hugo were quite friendly, and we got to stroke and cuddle them a lot. The sheep acted differently - they tended to avoid us.

We noticed that the goat and sheep poo looked quite dry, and someone said it looked like blueberries! We did a good job of sweeping it up, doing good teamwork together.

As well as sweeping up the poo, we changed the water in the buckets, so the animals would have clean water to drink. Then, we moved onto the donkey stables, where there was even more poo to clear up! This time, though, we needed slightly different tools, so one of our regular volunteers went to fetch them from the hay barn for us.

We picked up the poo with our shavings forks, aiming to pick up just poo, without too many shavings attached. For some of us, it was our first time using the tools, and we did a great job. Again, we worked well together as a team, some of us poo picking, some us sweeping, some us changing the water, and then stocking up the troughs with hay for the donkeys’ dinner. We cleared both Derek and Bayleaf’s stable and Gilbert and Sullivan’s stable. Then it was time to put our tools away, which again, we did well as a team.