Can you even call yourself a farm if you don’t have a whole bunch of animals?! Life at Wild Run would not be complete without each of our furry and feathered friends. Let’s go over our current lineup, shall we?
First up is our English Cream Golden Retriever brothers, Gus and Tucker who were born in 2017. They may be litter mates, but they’re also the best of friends. When we lost our last set of brothers, Forrest and Bubba, we knew we had to do it again. Our dogs rule the house and they know it!
Next up are our two barn kittens, Mouse and Otter. Another brother and sister duo, they are the first cats in our family and we couldn’t be more in love! Their daily antics always have us in stitches of laughter. They are by far the most spoiled barn cats you will ever meet, often found sleeping in our beds, or right next to the pups!
Next in the line up are our cows. Oh my gosh I never knew I could love cows the way I love these beautiful creatures. We have a complete family here on the farm. Bonnie Mae is a big mama and she runs it all. Bonnie is a Highland breed with the most beautiful butterscotch hair and horns that will make you very respectful of her personal space! Then comes Tilley, she is Bonnie’s oldest daughter, a Highland/ Wagu blend. She is the sweetest soul and is the most beautiful shade of chocolate brown. Up next is Clover, who is also a Highland/ Wagu blend like her sister, Tilley. Full of energy and personality, you never know what this adorable but mischievous cow will get into next! She is also my escape artist, having broken free of her fencing and chomped on my garden more times than I’d like to admit. It’s a good thing she loves cow cookies, because they make it easy to lure back into her field! Last but not least, we have baby Finn! My baby. Finnegan was born on the farm this last December and thinks I am his best friend…and I ain’t mad about it one bit. He is full Highland bred like his mama, Bonnie. He won’t be baby sized for much longer, already topping out the scales at over 800lbs! I just hope he will always lay his head in my lap and enjoy a head scratch, like he has since birth.
Of course, what would be do without a flock of chickens?! We have three varieties, Plymouth Rock, White Rock and Ameraucana’s, as egg layers. They are just the sweetest and they literally come running as soon as they see you approaching with bowl of snacks (aka our leftover produce and food scraps)! We don’t free range them because with as many predator birds and animals we have in our area, we would be sure to lose them quickly. But don’t you worry, they have a large, beautiful coop to roam around and lots of fresh veggies and bugs to enjoy daily!
Lastly, we have around 60,000 bees on our farm at this point in time. Starting an apiary wasn’t even in the back of our mind not long ago, and here we are with a bee haven! We recently harvested our very first batch of honey, and plan to harvest more as time goes on.
While that may be the complete list of current animals on the farm, we definitely won’t stop here! We have big plans to add in many more farm animals over the next year! Our dream is to add in miniature donkeys, alpacas, Nigerian dwarf goats, baby doll sheep and perhaps a few more Highland cows. And who knows how many more puppies, kittens and chickens!
