News

Look out for Sky Park Farm on Channel 5’s, Winter on the Farm, the cameras were here recently filming Yorkshire vet Shona Searson as she met our team of Rangers to health check the livestock, feed the sika and observe red deer during the rut (on a soggy day!).

The series launches on Monday 5th December at 8pm. We have an exciting seasonal arrival this month, in the form of Rudolph and Blitzen, the farm reindeer. Adapted to survive in freezing conditions, reindeer have larger, flatter hooves for walking on snow, a heightened sense of smell to detect their staple diet of lichen beneath the snow, every part of a reindeer is fur covered, including their noses. They have beautiful, thick coats and the ability to lower the temperature of their legs to retain their core body heat. Scandinavian forest reindeer are the largest variety, ours are from Sweden. Life is a little quieter in the paddocks and parkland this month.

Our herds have settled and the stags have returned to focus on grazing as the rut has drawn to a close. The Rangers have been busy weaning the calves, moving the stags between herds and rotating the paddocks. The benefit of a mild, wet autumn has been that the grass has continued to grow late in the season and the animals are well prepared for colder weather.