Live animal feeding at Bath City Farm via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/BathCityFarm) is back every Saturday morning to keep people in touch with farm life during the lockdown.
Starting at 10.30am, fans of the farm will be able to see their favourite animals as Livestock Coordinator Joe Keppie-Bray takes visitors on a virtual tour of the route that he follows to give the animals their morning feed.
While the farm’s buildings, café, play park and toilets are closed until further notice, the farm’s team continues to work with its supported volunteers through their animal care and therapeutic horticulture sessions.
“During the first lockdown in Spring 2020, thousands of people tuned in from as far away as Australia to see Joe feeding the animals every Saturday,” said Helen Fisher, Farm Manager. “We know how much the farm and the animals mean to many of our visitors and supporters, and we wanted to give everyone the chance to see how they are doing.”
The animal feeding route includes the Feathered Friends enclosure with the hens and two rabbits, Thumper and Pumpkin, Pam the pig, Shetland ponies Dougie and Dougal and the goat enclosures including Orio, Rotork and Strawberry, who were born in May 2020. It is also a chance to check in on the hens and ducks, and see how many eggs have been laid overnight – with 18 the record from the first lockdown.
As Joe walks around the farm, there are plenty of opportunities for viewers to ask him questions about the animals as the arrival of spring sees the birds build their nests and the trees and hedgerows come to life.
12 rare breed sheep, including Castlemilk Moorit, Cotswold Sheep and Norfolk Horn came from Countryfile’s Adam Henson’s Farm in December and new lambs will be born in the spring.
Helen Fisher, added, “The farm relies upon the generosity of its supporters to maintain the site as a free community resource. It costs us £850 to stay open and run our 10 targeted projects which support marginalised people within the community. We can’t wait to welcome people back onsite, but in the meantime other ways you can support us are by donating through our Local giving page http://giv.today/tobathcityfarm or adopting one of our animals.”
Bath City Farm celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2020 and hundreds of people contributed to a fundraising appeal to help keep it open. Now that the UK has entered a third lockdown and the farm has had to close, it once again relies on the generosity of individuals supporters. The farm was set up by local people, who campaigned to save this special 37-acre green place located between Twerton and Southdown, and establish a city farm back in 1995.