Relaxed Farming - our farm in your classroom

We are pleased to say that the lambs are definitely picking up after the traumas of flystrike and being wormed, one is still a little underweight but we hope he will catch up again.
The fabulous September weather is helping: it is wonderful seeing all the animals out and about enjoying the sunshine, green grass and plentiful natural food. We have been watching the broody hens and their chicks: a combination of constantly 'talking' to get their attention alongside demonstrating how it is done ensures that these Oxford Game chicks are learning very early on how to scratch and find food and grit (the latter has to be 'eaten' by poultry to help grind down the food they eat).
And yet this quail (pictured right), raised under a heat lamp with no 'mother' still has a natural instinct telling her to peck at the grit in the container!! We hope that next year we can raise some quail under a broody bantam (small hen) and it will be interesting to see how those quail then develop and learn! There is a huge amount of instinct within animals (including humans) which means that a lot of the time, animals (and us) KNOW what to do in certain situations. However, our parents/teachers can then teach us so that not only do we know WHAT to do but we then learn how to do it really well AND can pass it on to the next generation.
Looking at what animals learn as opposed to what comes naturally to them, is an interesting debate. When Pickle, one of our dairy goats, gave birth for the first time, we did wonder what sort of mum she would be. Her own mother was terrible and virtually rejected two of her three kids! A goat breeder had told us Pickle was bound to be a bad mum because she had not been set a good example: in fact she was an excellent mum and brought up two beautiful kids. Instinct in this example obviously won through, thank goodness!!