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Life at Shuttleworth
As we move into spring there is lots of activity happening on the farm. Lambing went well with a final total of 340 lambs born, and they are now enjoying being out at grass on the Shuttleworth parkland. There is no time for a rest as we move straight from lambing into calving. This year all the calves’ names will start with the letter L and in the picture, you can see Libby. Many hours are spent at this time of year on the arable side of the farm. We also undertake activities to improve the grassland. These activities ensure that this summer we will be able to make enough forage to take us through next winter. The Zoological Education Centre (ZEC) has also had some new arrivals in the mammal department, a trio of Brazilian cavies are housed here allowing students to study the behaviour of the wild cavy. We already house a large colony of domesticated cavies (guinea pigs) in the centre allowing students to study and care for these popular small pets. It is interesting studying the physical differences and feeding behaviours of their non-domesticated cousins! Students also have the unique experience of working with our two Capybara, considered the worlds largest cavy. Both the Brazilian wild cavies and capybara are captive raised animals from the zoo community where we work in collaboration with zoo and wildlife parks maintaining industry standards.
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