Christmas Turkeys

In June we took delivery of our Christmas Turkeys. They were tiny one day old chicks that have since grown into the very tasty birds they are today.

We stock two breeds the Bronze turkey which is a standard British breed used by many small and large scale producers and the much rarer but uniquely gamey Norfolk Black. For years Norfolk blacks were hearded on mass from Norfolk all the way to the streets of London ready for christmas day. They even wore little boots. Today they are considered a rare breed, passed over for faster growing, heavier birds such as the Bronze.

All of our turkeys are free range with a large enclosed space full of greenery (Until they eat it all) which they roam in the day time. At night they have a large naturally lit barn in which to roost safe from Mr Fox.

At christmas the Turkeys are lovingly plucked and dressed by the Students and Staff on the farm. Packaged ready for collection on either the 23rd or 24th December.
If you would like to reserve a Turkey for Christmas then get in touch with Ben Williams at Redborne School Farm either at stbwilliams@redborne.beds.sch.uk or by phoning on 01525842622

Banner Blitz

We are supporting the campaign for British Pork. Check out our banner effort along with many others at http://www.pigworld.co.uk/Pages/Sections/BannersCampaignGallery.html

We work hard to ensure that our pigs are raised to the highest welfare from Farm to Plate

Posters, Flyers and Labels.

Keep a look out for our new Flyers

Something to confuse the students!!!

Why do we have all those male sheep? "We don't", says I. But then why have they got horns? It really is nice to show them something new.

We now have six pedigree Norfolk Horn ewe lambs to go with our new Suffolk's. They will not breed this year but hopefully in time we can make our own Suffolk sheep.

Bee's

We are slowly expanding our bee hives. Currently we have four hives that are occupied thanks to a wandering wild swarm and of course our friends at Cardona and Son who managed to get us two very healthy swarms.

The Work Continues

At Redborne Farm we always aim to maintain the facilities to the best possible standard and so throughout the year we fix and mend, dig and weed as well as all the other everyday tasks

The Horticulture area has been weeded, planted and lovingly tended to by Jan and assorted Helpers. As much Farm scrap as possible has been cleverly sculpted into a very fetching bug hotel to encourage pollinators to the garden area.

The roof on the pig pen had rotted through so the whole lot had to come off which is no mean feet in windy weather. Luckily the rain held off!!!

With the new boards on all we needed was some felt. I never was very good at wrapping christmas presents.

Almost done. At least the pigs are again water tight before the rains came (About thirty seconds after this photo is taken)

Hatfield Show

Our Large Black and Saddleback pigs represented us at the Hatfield Show this year and with both coming a very respectable 4th out of a large class we are very pleased.

The show day comes after a long build up. Months of interacting with the pigs and training them to walk have to be undertaken before they are ready for the ring.

On show day they are washed and oiled before being led through to the ring with the other pigs

The pigs are led with a stick and and big board which allow the pig to be gently guided around the ring. A female (Gilt or Sow) is led by just one person however a boar (Male) must be led by two people as they are a little more excitable.

The whole process is obviously very tiring for the pigs!!!