In today’s session we focused on the warren and the animals in there. After cleaning and feeding we tipped the sheep in order to clip their feet. Kirsty showed us how to clip their hooves which I had never done before. Just as our toenails and fingernails grow, so do their feet and therefore need… Continue reading Week 11; March 31st

This week, after spending the morning cleaning and feeding, the weather was warm and sunny. We took three dogs, the two red-foot tortoises and Giggles to the field. Taking the tortoises to a different environment and allowing them to roam unrestricted was excellent exercise for them. Whilst they were roaming they also grazed which is… Continue reading Week 10; March 24th

This week we focused on handling, especially animals we were less confident with or hadn’t had a chance to handle before. I handled a few of the reptiles for the first time. Handling the leopard gecko I learnt how to hold the gecko in one hand without letting their legs be unsupported. I also held… Continue reading Week 8; March 10th

Before we headed to Lee Farm we watched the vet file the ponies’ teeth. It is important for ponies and horses to have their dental health maintained as an inability to chew food sufficiently may lead to poor digestion of nutrients and therefore loss of body condition, but also teeth abnormalities can be painful primarily.… Continue reading Week 7; March 3rd

This week we visited Lee Farm where we will be helping with lambing over the next few weeks. We learnt the different breed of sheep and how to identify them by their loin marks and the colours associated with how many lambs they were expecting. We also learnt how to handle the ewes and lambs and where… Continue reading Week 6; February 24th

This week we worked at Ribby Hall as they are setting up a new petting zoo. This was an excellent opportunity of working in industry but not hands on with the animals. We dug up and relocated trees that were already on site and then a delivery of new plants and trees which were used to… Continue reading Week 3; February 3rd

Due to the weather, the ponies haven’t been outside for the past few weeks as their paddock has been too wet. This week we had permission to let them run in the equine arena. Most horses are stabled in the winter so this is not out of the ordinary but larger ponies and horses are… Continue reading Week 2; 27th January

During the Christmas period an avian influenza outbreak in the U.K. meant that restrictions were put in place ruling that all birds must be kept indoors until the outbreak restrictions are lifted. (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/avian-influenza-bird-flu-in-winter-2016-to-2017) This week we brought in 5 wheelbarrows of bark and a trailer full of logs to use as enrichment in the birds’… Continue reading Semester 2, Week 1; January 20th

  Today was an excellent day of new experiences in which I got the opportunity to medicate animals and do new procedures. Firstly on the warren I wormed the rabbits with Panacur by weighing them properly and giving them the correct ratio of the medicine. I then took Othello and groomed him and clipped his… Continue reading Week 12; 9th December

On week 11 we went to a Wetland Wildlife Trust called Martin Mere. This was my best day ever. We were taken to an enclosure where there had been a rat infestation who had killed the birds that lived there. The trust had killed off the plants that were growing there so we then removed the remainder… Continue reading Week 11; 2nd December