STONEHAVEN FARMS by Jerleena King

Day 13 – Today 14th July, the interns visited Stonehaven Farm, owned and operated by Dr. Andre’ Winter. This farm is exclusively a livestock farm that means no crops or vegetables. Here they rear animals such as horses, ponies, pigs, chickens, cows and other livestock. Although they have chickens, they only have layers not broilers.

The interns were told that when doing farming they will require to start the day very early and most times before 6:00a.m. They start that early so they do not stay in the hot sun for a very long time and the early start allow them to finish earlier.

From the farm to the consumer

If the livestock is not healthy the consumers would not buy the meat and if this happens then no profit would be made because the animals would not get sold.

Maintenance

By maintaining a healthy environment for the animals, that is the pens or the housing until the animals has reached a certain stage where they can know whether they will be slaughtered on the farm or taken to the abattoir.

Rules and regulations

While being in Stonehaven Farm it is recommended that no loud noise on the farm because it might scare the farm animals especially the horses because they are not used to a lot of people being around them.

The interns where place into four groups, one set dealt with cleaning the chicken coops while the others did pig pens, sheep shed and cattle stations. Additionally, they assisted with other chores like feeding the animals and changing the water in the troughs.

The Interns worked very hard for several hours and were then rewarded with refreshments before departing. They all expressed their satisfaction with the visit and gladly accepted the invitation to revisit for the slaughtering of some of the pigs.