The Farmpark Day 2

Just as I predicted, things quieted down after all the prep was completed for Horsefest in the Well Bred Shed.  Today, I had more opportunities to work with the staff members and animals.  I started the day off with the usual pen cleaning and this time I got to clean Liz's pen.  Liz is a gloucestershire old spot sow that has a litter of piglets.  I had to be really careful not to step on the piglets as they attacked my shoes and ran around the pen while I attempted to shovel out the dirty straw.   Liz is also really grumpy in the morning and, not to mention, HUGE weighing in around 500 pounds.  When she wants to lay somewhere or run you over it's hard to tell her no.

After cleaning, I sorted bags of sheep wool and put them away in the barn's attic for later use.  The Farmpark has another huge event coming up in a few weeks: Shearing Weekend.  Formally known as Woolfest, the Farmpark celebrates the use of sheep wool in everyday products and educates the public about sheep and, of course, their wool.  The Farmpark also sells wool products such as felts, dyed wool, carded wool, and yarn.  Since Woolfest is also approaching, I will be working more with the wool (and hopefully the sheep) this next week in order to help the park prepare for this event.

The end of the day was slow due to the thunder storms.  To entertain ourselves, we closed off the Well Bred Shed and played with the twin goat kids.  Goat kids are very playful when they are awake and like to hop around and headbutt each other in mock fights.  A lot of laughter and meeeehhhing ensued.