Open Farm Sunday 2015

This year, I didn't make it to Open Farm Sunday with the family, as I was at the fabulous Creative & Crafty Blogger meet at Breadsall Priory. However, I made sure they all went to enjoy the lovely warm weather and obviously what the local farms had to offer.

At Betty's farm, they have around 24,000 chickens! They were invited to take a tour of one of the enclosures, where they were encouraged to pick up the chickens. My daughter, who loves animals, really got up close, although she wasn't sure about them when they were trying to peck her feet to see if they were food. 

They learned about how they protect the chickens from foxes, by putting the llamas in a field on the path most used by foxes, apparently you don't mess with llamas! The farm shop had tastings of some of their delicious products, including some creatively named rubs from Bohns Rubs.

Later in the day, at Stanton House Farm, the children got to watch some of the 750 cows being milked in a rotating parlour, this milking turntable holds 50 cows at a time and the milk they produce is turned into cheeses, which they were able to sample at the farm.

They also got to watch a sheep being sheared, they always look so shocked during the process but afterwards a sense of relief at having their 'hair cut'. My daughter loved stroking the fleece, once it has been cut off, it is wrapped up in a specific way to protect the best wool.

I really missed going as it is a truly great event for all of the family, my husband took his dad and they all had a great time, going on tractor rides and seeing the farms and animals up close and personal.

If you didn't get to visit this year then it is well worth putting in your diary for next year.