Balmichael Farm & Visitor Centre
Farm Animals
At Balmichael Farm and Visitor Centre we have numerous animals that you can get 'up close and personal' with. We have a small herd of Pedigree Highlander's, all named after Malt Whiskies (the one pictured is Glenmorangie)! We have a flock of extremely tenacious free ranging chickens and ducks, and we have 3 Guinea Pigs; Scoop, Muck and Dizzy, who are penned outside once the weather warms up. We have 3 Shetland Ponies, Tina, Little un, and Big un, who more often than not are found loitering with intent by the fence at the car park waiting for a pat and of course the occasional polo or carrot that may pass their way (if you happen to have one in your pocket that is?), and not forgetting our Vietnamese Pot Bellied Pig 'Pinky'. We also breed, hatch, and rear our our own poultry and ducks, and during spring time we place the rearing pens on the grass where you can get close to,see the chicks and ducklings.
The staff in the Old Mill Coffee Shop are more than happy to give you any crusts they may have to throw at the chickens or the ducks in the pond (watch out for the big Rainbow Trout who will usually beat the ducks to the bread), or any veg cuttings for the Guinea Pigs, or carrot ends for the ponies, please ask. Also be on the lookout for Thumper and Jess, our 2 Free Range lop eared rabbits who got bored of their hutch and run and being penned, and decided to dig their way to freedom! they are regularly in the playpark scrounging, or running around the Centre, after having taken up a new residence under one of our sheds!
We also have Peggy, Barney and Quiggley, our 3 Labrador Retrievers who are very sociable and usually make friends with everyone they meet when they are taken for walks, and can sometimes prove difficult to get back in to the house especially if the strokes are going free in the courtyard, or if food has fallen on the floor when the tables and chairs are outside for the warmer weather!
'Barney boy', and his son, Quiggley aged 9 weeks
We don't have a picture of Peg, she's 11 and usually goes off and does her own thing as she pleases and believe it or not, doesn't like her photo being taken! If you do see her in the car park can you please tell her to 'go home'! She may look at you funny and pretend she didn't hear you? She thinks that we think she's deaf! I can assure you she's not, especially when she hears one of our children drop some food on the floor, so you may need to tell her twice. She's also incredibly athletic for her age and can Easily scale a 4 foot gate, especially if she smells food, so don't be duped by her grey hair and take pity on her!
We very much welcome well behaved dogs into the Centre, there are drinking bowls for them, all we ask is that you clean up after your dog, we have a bin and shovel in the car park, and also request that all dogs must be kept on a slip / lead (as we have chickens and children running about all over the Centre!), and furthermore all dogs are to be kept out of the play park. You may see our dogs around the Centre off the lead, but we can assure you that they are well trained working dogs and are well behaved around our poultry, and extremely child friendly, and this is usually only when they are walked 2 or 3 times during the day. Also we would be grateful if you can keep your little ones from chasing the chickens (as tempting and as fun as it for them!). The chickens are very much at home around the playpark, they are great forragers, and are usually quicker than children! However if they are chased then they get stressed, and that we want to avoid that at all costs.
Pheasants and red leg partridge are regularly seen feeding at the hoppers that provide food for our chickens and ducks by the pond, and also keep an eye out for the cheeky finches and sparrows that will sit on the arm of your chair waiting for your crumbs, they can, and will usually take food from your hand if you offer it, although we don't encourage it at the table. As spring emerges we have our regular visitors in the shape of the swallows who return every year. You can usually see their young fledging around April / May and July / Aug, they usually have 2 - 3 clutches. They will provide you a spectacular arial display of fine acrobatic stunts as they feed on the flies and bugs mid air, they are truly amazing to watch! Regularly we see Birds of Prey, buzzards in particular, and on 2 occasions we have seen golden eagles soaring over the centre and on one occasion an eagle perched on the Ash Tree in our garden, and not forgetting the cheeky heron eying up my trout in the pond, and the otter chasing my ducks, both quite contentedly happy in the presence of a lot of spectators!
back