Sammi and Dusty (10 page)

City Farm has five goats – dairy goats Nelly and Nancy, male goats Billy and Bramble, and a new goat, naughty little Basher.

Dairy goats need milking every day. More people in the world drink goats’ milk than cows’ milk. Goat’s milk makes delicious cheeses.

Goats can live between 12-16 years.

Goats only have teeth on their bottom jaw, the top is a hard palate.

Goats are often very good at escaping their pens – like Basher, so we have to make sure their enclosures are secure.

Baby goats are called kids, and goats can have up to six kids per litter.

There are lots of chickens and ducks at City Farm, and more ducklings and chicks hatch every year.

Chickens and ducks need a shed to sleep at night,otherwise they might get eaten by foxes.

Very few ducks actually “quack”, but ducks do make a wide range of noises.

Ducks have webbed feet that act like paddles, and their feathers are waterproof.

Chickens preen their feathers every day, and like to take dust baths in the farmyard.

Curly and Lizzie are City Farm’s Greyface Dartmoor Sheep. They have floppy fringes that fall over their eyes and are very woolly and cuddly!

Female sheep are called ewes, male sheep are called rams, and baby sheep are called lambs.

Sheep like to live together in a flock. If one moves, the others will follow. When people copy what each other do without thinking, it’s called being a sheep.

Sheep have to be shorn every year, and their wool is spun into thread that makes clothes, blankets, and lots of other things.

Sheep were some of the first animals to be domesticated by people.