We know our visitors love to get close to our farm animals by offering them some food, but there are times of the year when we have to put the needs of our animals first. We are therefore sadly announcing that there will be no animal feeding for visitors at Sacrewell for the next few months.
It is normal practice for us to stop animal feeding during lambing season as we want to keep a close eye on what our new born lambs and their mothers are eating. There is also an increased risk of diseases such as chlamydiosis and toxoplasmosis spreading from sheep to humans during the lambing period, so we discourage close contact as a way to manage this risk.
This year our decision to stop animal feeding has also been influenced by the government guidelines on avian influenza which is a disease spread by wild birds. Here at Sacrewell, we are not in a higher risk area, so our chickens can go out into their fenced enclosures. Stopping animal feeding helps us to keep the risk of contact between wild birds and our chickens as low as possible.
Keep an eye on the website for news of when animal feeding comes back on the agenda in early summer, as well as updates on our lambs.