Hello everyone,
I have recently started a new job as a relief groom as a short secondment away from Town Barton.
As a relief I am required to provide cover wherever needed, so it has given me a fantastic opportunity to travel around the other farms and departments to see how they work, as well as meeting all the teams.
If anyone thinks that slimming donkeys isn't practical or possible, I’d like to share with you what a great job the staff at Axnoller Farm have done with their weight loss group.
Just over a year ago, eight donkeys were identified as being condition score 4 or more and desperately needing a helping hand to shed some excess weight. Since then the eight donkeys have lost 131kg between them, which is pretty much a whole donkey in weight!
On a cold February morning I opened a door and stepped into another world... that of the elderly donkey living at Axnoller Farm. It's not every day that something catches you unaware, but this was one of those moments as I took in the sight of around 50 donkeys standing side by side along the feeders eating their breakfast almost in silence. Each and every donkey wearing their winter rugs to offer them further warmth.
In this barn is a very special donkey that I fell in love with many years ago during one of my holidays to the Sanctuary. Her name is Panda and this is my journey with her to the present day.
Hello again from Keith and Maggie here at East Axnoller Farm, one of the Sanctuary's farms in Dorset.
It is quite some time since we last wrote about our experiences with the donkeys in our capacity as Quality Time Volunteers. There are in fact quite a few of us Volunteers now at the Farm, but as we all go on different days and at different times, it was good to meet up with each other as we did last Friday. We had all been invited to a get-together at the main Sanctuary in Sidmouth, which was most enjoyable. It was interesting to compare notes and share stories about all the lucky donkeys, mules and ponies who live here.
September and October has turned out to be a very busy time for us, as we have had family and friends staying, plus we have been looking after various pets for friends who have been on holiday. But no matter how busy we are we always find time to spend with the donkeys every week at East Axnoller Farm.
We have some wonderful volunteers here at the Sanctuary, and this lovely photo was taken of Nicky Musgrove, a volunteer at East Axnoller Farm, one of our outlying farms in Dorset.
Nicky joined our growing number of volunteers in March 2010 and I think we can tell from her huge smile, that she thoroughly enjoys helping the donkeys.
