Farm News...
September 5, 2007
Breaking News
Lambs in gambolling scandal!
watch this space for further details
January 31, 2007
Feathers to fly as rabbits battle chooks
New chicks in town to contend with baby bunnies for ‘cutest’ tag
The arrival of newborn chicks into the Apollo Bay Family Farm fold has caused an uproar in some sections of the local paddocks.
The rabbit community, home to a two-week-old litter of nine rabbit kittens, is particularly outraged at the idea that the feathered infants could take away their limelight. The barnyard battle, set to have the chicks and bunnies vie for the attentions of the children visiting the farm, has been labeled ‘feathers versus fluff’.
New residents, Dandelion and Sootsy, were unruffled by the fuss.
“There are so many of them and only the two of us. We’re young, we’re cute – and we’re not going away,” said Dandelion.
But rabbit leaders and the kittens themselves have vowed to do “whatever it takes” to keep the focus on them in the coming weeks.
“After almost two weeks, our eyes are open, we are as fluffy as, and now just a hippity-hop away from those young children’s hearts. What have they done? Cracked an egg?,” asked spokesbunny Anthony.
“Look, they can’t help what they are – or when they were born,” he said. “But my message for the chickens is this – pay your dues. You can’t just shake your tail feathers into the big league. This is our time.”
For some older residents of the farm though, the fight for attention is old hat.
“I came here as a chick, only 2 weeks old,” said rooster Dave, now aged six months. “All the kids loved us, wanted to pat us and sneak us home in their cordy overalls. Fast forward a few months and they don’t want to know,” he said.
“I have learnt to crow – by myself, I might add: I mean, it’s not like the cows can teach me that – but do they care? I even try to mix it up a bit – a little build-up or some wild clucking to keep it fresh – and what do I get? No ‘Mummy, mummy, can I take him home?,” that’s for sure,” he said.
“I’m doing the best work of my career and getting no recognition.”
Lamb Delia agreed. Though still the youngest and smallest of the lambs at the farm, she feels she has lost the ‘cute’ factor which once made her a star.
“I used to look like a powder puff. I was seriously adored – and it wasn’t just the kids. Adults would cradle me, like I was their new child. And everyone wanted to feed me – just me.
“I tried to stay young for as long as possible; I’d been warned by the February orphaned lambs, but in the end, nature just takes its course,” she said.
“Too big, too wooly and it was a hot summer. I got curious about the shearing. I just went in for a crutching, just a couple of inches off the back, and came out bald. I mean, in one sense, it’s kind of liberating. The pressure to conform to this unrealistic standard of beauty is gone, but sometimes I wonder what could have been,” she said.
“One bad haircut – that’s all any of us are away from being just another face in the flock.”
January 24, 2007
Piglets rule the roost at the farm
‘Dream’ actors get a rough trot
Many of you have by now met Duffy, the farm’s resident runt pig, who was bottle-raised from birth and spent the first couple of months of his life being coddled and cuddled and learning how to swim at the Apollo Bay beaches.
Well, our little porcine pal has reached the ripe old age of 3 months, and for the last month has been hanging out with his brother Lance and his cousin Laverne, practicing his oink, ditching the bottle for a trough, lying in puddles and generally pigging out. The three of them boss around the dogs, cat, sheep and any other animal that makes its way into the shed, humans included.
Perhaps inspired by the newly-released Charlotte’s Web, or with distant memories of Babe in his mind, Duffy has come to the realization that runts get attention – and attention means food and belly scratches. And the best way to get attention is to ask for it.
So, egged on by Lance and Laverne, this little piggy cried “Wee Wee Wee Wee” – all the way through Green CYC’s performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Shed in late January. Not content with a vocal performance, all three pigs then decided to further ham it up by trying to pull down the hessian that had been put up to transform the Apollo Bay Family Farm shed into an Athenian forest.
The actors, having had to originally move to the shed because rain stopped play at Paradise, took it in stride, and though the course of true love never did run smooth, the play fittingly had a dream run.
We’d love to have the Bard in the Barn again next Midsummer, but maybe these three little pigs will have to work on location for a while. Or we could change The Taming of the Shrew to The Taming of The Swine.
Would love to have seen Burton and Taylor in that…
Feathers to fly as rabbits battle chooks
New chicks in town to contend with baby bunnies for ‘cutest’ tag
The arrival of newborn chicks into the Apollo Bay Family Farm fold has caused an uproar in some sections of the local paddocks.
The rabbit community, home to a two-week-old litter of nine rabbit kittens, is particularly outraged at the idea that the feathered infants could take away their limelight. The barnyard battle, set to have the chicks and bunnies vie for the attentions of the children visiting the farm, has been labeled ‘feathers versus fluff’.
New residents, Dandelion and Sootsy, were unruffled by the fuss.
“There are so many of them and only the two of us. We’re young, we’re cute – and we’re not going away,” said Dandelion.
But rabbit leaders and the kittens themselves have vowed to do “whatever it takes” to keep the focus on them in the coming weeks.
“After almost two weeks, our eyes are open, we are as fluffy as, and now just a hippity-hop away from those young children’s hearts. What have they done? Cracked an egg?,” asked spokesbunny Anthony.
“Look, they can’t help what they are – or when they were born,” he said. “But my message for the chickens is this – pay your dues. You can’t just shake your tail feathers into the big league. This is our time.”
For some older residents of the farm though, the fight for attention is old hat.
“I came here as a chick, only 2 weeks old,” said rooster Dave, now aged six months. “All the kids loved us, wanted to pat us and sneak us home in their cordy overalls. Fast forward a few months and they don’t want to know,” he said.
“I have learnt to crow – by myself, I might add: I mean, it’s not like the cows can teach me that – but do they care? I even try to mix it up a bit – a little build-up or some wild clucking to keep it fresh – and what do I get? No ‘Mummy, mummy, can I take him home?,” that’s for sure,” he said.
“I’m doing the best work of my career and getting no recognition.”
Lamb Delia agreed. Though still the youngest and smallest of the lambs at the farm, she feels she has lost the ‘cute’ factor which once made her a star.
“I used to look like a powder puff. I was seriously adored – and it wasn’t just the kids. Adults would cradle me, like I was their new child. And everyone wanted to feed me – just me.
“I tried to stay young for as long as possible; I’d been warned by the February orphaned lambs, but in the end, nature just takes its course,” she said.
“Too big, too wooly and it was a hot summer. I got curious about the shearing. I just went in for a crutching, just a couple of inches off the back, and came out bald. I mean, in one sense, it’s kind of liberating. The pressure to conform to this unrealistic standard of beauty is gone, but sometimes I wonder what could have been,” she said.
“One bad haircut – that’s all any of us are away from being just another face in the flock.”
January 24, 2007
Piglets rule the roost at the farm
‘Dream’ actors get a rough trot
Many of you have by now met Duffy, the farm’s resident runt pig, who was bottle-raised from birth and spent the first couple of months of his life being coddled and cuddled and learning how to swim at the Apollo Bay beaches.
Well, our little porcine pal has reached the ripe old age of 3 months, and for the last month has been hanging out with his brother Lance and his cousin Laverne, practicing his oink, ditching the bottle for a trough, lying in puddles and generally pigging out. The three of them boss around the dogs, cat, sheep and any other animal that makes its way into the shed, humans included.
Perhaps inspired by the newly-released Charlotte’s Web, or with distant memories of Babe in his mind, Duffy has come to the realization that runts get attention – and attention means food and belly scratches. And the best way to get attention is to ask for it.
So, egged on by Lance and Laverne, this little piggy cried “Wee Wee Wee Wee” – all the way through Green CYC’s performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Shed in late January. Not content with a vocal performance, all three pigs then decided to further ham it up by trying to pull down the hessian that had been put up to transform the Apollo Bay Family Farm shed into an Athenian forest.
The actors, having had to originally move to the shed because rain stopped play at Paradise, took it in stride, and though the course of true love never did run smooth, the play fittingly had a dream run.
We’d love to have the Bard in the Barn again next Midsummer, but maybe these three little pigs will have to work on location for a while. Or we could change The Taming of the Shrew to The Taming of The Swine.
Would love to have seen Burton and Taylor in that…
Huge thanks to Youarn Bell, Shannon Mead, Joshua Cameron, Ranie Daw, Anthony Taufa, Jennifer Lusk, Kate Drougas, Kate Shearman, Phillip McKechnie, Liam McIntyre, Trevor Vaughan and Glenn Quinn for helping transform our little part of the globe.
