#reptiles

Down On The Farm: My Time At The Farm

life

Today was my last day volunteering at the farm. I have had an amazing time and made friends human and animal along the way. Spending time at the farm has taught me not only how to care for a variety of different animals but also built up my skills on how to work well in a team.

I would definitely recommend doing volunteering work as it not only gives you a chance to see what’s it like to work in a certain industry and the day to day jobs you would be doing and of course you can put your volunteer experience on your CV.

Through doing volunteering work at the farm I have learnt a lot more than I thought I would and I have been able to push myself in a supportive environment achieving things I thought I would never be able to do. For example I can now carry out health checks independently on a range of different animals for example chickens, rats, hamsters and guinea pigs.

I have learnt a lot about introducing new animals into the different groups at the farm and all about the different responses the animals may have. Some may get on straight away others may take a while longer. I have learnt about how to break down the introducing steps to make shy or worried animals feel safe before putting them in with others straight away. For example you may separate the new animal with the others in the group but have it in the field next to them so that the animals get used to each other but from a little distance.

As well as this I have also learnt about if an animal has something like a problem with their fur or skin you may only use one brush just for them only for grooming as you don’t want to pass on any germs to the other animals in their group.

I have learnt a lot about all different the animals diets and what they can and cannot eat as well as what they love. Erik the goat loves eating oranges! Pigs cannot eat onion or anything in the onion family and if you mix alpaca feed and goat feed together it becomes toxic to the animals.

Feeding Erik the goat

On the farm I have learnt about how to care for injuries the small animals such as hamsters or guinea pigs may get from animals such as wild rats that manage to get into their cages.

A big thing at the farm I have learnt about is how to care for a variety of different reptiles such as geckos, snakes, water dragons , bearded dragons, spiders and skinks.

Fat Tailed Gecko

I have loved my time at the farm and would highly recommend volunteering with animals to gain experience for anyone who loves animals!

Animal Care Volunteer: Down On The Farm

life

Through my love of animals which started when I was little as well as  how animals have helped me with my mental health. I decided I wanted to do volunteering with animals.

I now volunteer once a week at a farm as an Animal Care Volunteer. The farm I go to has lots of different types of animals. From Alpacas, Goats and Llamas to Guinea pigs, Hamsters, Rats and Rabbits to name a few. We also sometimes get to look after reptiles such as snakes, geckos and skinks.

Well Hello.

The farm works with children, young people and adults to build up their confidence and self-esteem through working to care for a variety of animals. Children and young people  who come here maybe home educated, have mental health conditions or found mainstream school hard  to name a few.

When I was looking at different places I could volunteer at this place taught my eye as they had worked with other young people with mental health conditions. I thought this place would be fantastic as we get to work with animals in a more therapeutic environment. I felt that I could help give back to other young people  and show them how much joy animals can bring into your life and help you to be more positive. Animals don’t just help   them to forget about difficult things  but sometimes helps them to process things as the animals are making them feel relaxed and safe.

Throughout the day on the farm I do a number of different tasks to care for all the animals on the farm.  Here are some of the tasks I do.

Cleaning out hutches,cages and fields. I put down fresh hay in all the animals hutches, cages and shelters. Giving all the animals fresh water in their water bottles and bowls and topping them up regularly throughout the day.

Mucking out the ponies field.

Refilling the rabbits water bottles.

Sometimes I groom the goats, ponies and the dog. We also take the goats and ponies out of their main field and take them for walks around the farm so that they have new things to explore and they love it !, The goats love to try and eat the leaves too.

I help to prepare all the animals food as well as giving it to them when it is feeding time.

Grating carrots to put into the rabbits food.

Dinner time for the rabbits.

Feeding Obama the Llama.

More Please?

Finally a big thing we try to do is do as much animal handling as possible this is not just because the animals need to have human interaction but sometimes children and young people come to the farm to do animal handling sessions here the children and young people learn all about the animals.

I absolutely love volunteering on the farm and would highly recommend volunteering not only is it good to put on your CV but you get to learn new things about yourself. You get to see if you prefer learning through doing or more sitting down and writing.

If you are aged between 14-25 you can log your hours of volunteering you do on the website : http://www.vinspired.com , by doing this you will get certificates for the number of hours you do . You can show these certificates in any interviews you may have from college course interviews to internships, work experience placements and jobs.

.