The National Trust Reports Disaster For MyFarm's Shire Horse Foaling
Released on: July 14, 2011, 2:13 pm
Author:
National Trust
Industry:
Agriculture
The National Trust's MyFarm team at Wimpole Home Farm in
Cambridgeshire have been eagerly awaiting the foaling of Queenie, the
only Shire Horse mare at Wimpole for weeks now.
As over 800 people or groups of people saw, Queenie went into her much anticipated
labour. At 11.45pm she gave birth to a beautiful filly foal. Although she had a
perceptible heartbeat when she was born she was not breathing. Emma, horse manager
at Wimpole Farm, tried hard and long to get her to breathe with the help of farmer manager Richard
Morris. A vet was on the phone throughout, talking the team through the procedures.
None of our efforts could save her and she peacefully slipped away a few minutes
after her birth.
Richard said: "As you can imagine, we are all devastated by this awful and
unexpected outcome. Although watchers of the foaling on the webcam saw the true,
grim realities of animal husbandry this in no way belittles the personal sense of
tragedy and loss we are all feeling. This bitter disappointment is tempered only
with the fact that the filly foal did not suffer at all."
As part of the National Trust's MyFarm experiment, the birth was broadcast live
over the internet. The project, which started in May, aims to reconnect people with
the realities of life on a working, commercial farm allowing them to effectively become a farmer. The MyFarm
Farmers can discuss and make decisions on every aspect of the farm: the crops grown, livestock, the new facilities to
be invested in and the machinery to be used, much like a real life version of Farmville, the popular Facebook game.
As one MyFarm farmer commenting on the website just after the birth said: "I'm so
sorry everyone. That was awful to watch, but I guess this is the reality of farm
life sometimes. I felt so helpless watching the efforts to save her."
Richard continued: "It was a huge decision for us to do a live broadcast of the
birth. There was never a guarantee that the foaling would be straight forward and
unfortunately, this proved to be the case. But we didn't want to hide people from
the risks involved - it's fundamental to the purpose of this project - to reconnect
people with the realities of farming to allow the possibility of lows as well as
highs."
In the morning, Queenie was doing well. She was turned out into her paddock to get
some fresh air and Emma is speaking to the vet to find out the best way of stopping
the milk production.
As Queenie is a fit and healthy mare, and due to it being prime horse breeding
season, the team is keen that she gets back to the stallion again in approximately
three weeks to see if she can become pregnant once more. There is no reason to
believe that Queenie won't foal successfully in the future.
- ends -
About The National Trust:
The National Trust is one of the most important nature conservation charities in
Europe. The Trust is involved in the whole food chain, with 200,000 hectares of
food producing land, over 150 restaurants and tearooms, and historic kitchen
gardens, orchards and mills. The charity has community growing spaces - from
allotments to kitchen gardens - at over 50 locations around the country and is
increasing these annually. These spaces inspire the Trust's 3.8 million members,
60,000 volunteers and visitors to think and learn about food. The National Trust is
creating 1,000 new allotment plots on its land in the next three years to give local
communities the space to grow their own fruit and vegetables.
PR Contact:
Jeannette Heard
Press Officer
National Trust
Heelis
Kemble Drive
Swindon
SN2 2NA
01793 817706
www.my-farm.org.uk

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