The Goat Shack
Pygmy goats
They have their own hut, their own climbing frame and absolutely no sense of personal space. First stop for most children, and a fair few adults.
ROWAN TREE FARM
The farm came first
Rowan Tree Farm is a Farm Quality Assured beef and lamb farm at Macosquin. The cottages were built into it, not the other way round — which is why the animals are not an attraction with opening hours.
Meet the neighbours
Hover or tap a card to hear who you are dealing with. Most guests have met all of them before the kettle has boiled.
In the front field
Donkeys
Two of them, usually at the fence before you have finished parking. They will take a handful of grass from the hedge, and they are not shy about asking.
Behind the cottages
Alpacas
Curious, slightly haughty, and endlessly photogenic. They will come over to see what you are doing and then pretend they were not interested.
The home flock
Zwartbles sheep
Black fleece, white blaze, four white socks — a Dutch breed and a handsome one. Some of them have been shown at Ballymena.
February to April
Lambs
Lambing is the busiest fortnight of the farm year. Come in early spring and there will be lambs in the shed and, shortly after, all over the field.
By the yard
Hens
A small flock in a run beside the yard, doing what hens do. Ask and you may get to collect the eggs.
Out on the grass
Cattle
Rowan Tree Farm is a Farm Quality Assured beef and lamb farm. The cattle are out on the grass through the summer, in the shed through the worst of the winter.
Room to run about
A play area, picnic benches and giant garden games sit on the green between the cottages, which is flat, enclosed by the buildings and visible from most kitchen windows.
A year on the farm
Pick a season and see what you would be walking into.
A few sensible things
It is a working farm, so there is machinery, there are gates that need to stay shut, and there are fields that are not for walking in. Children are very welcome around the animals — with an adult.
The goats, donkeys, alpacas and hens are used to visitors and are happy to be looked at and talked to. Please do not feed them anything brought from the shop; a handful of grass from the hedge is plenty, and the farm will tell you if anything is off limits that week.
Dogs are welcome in the cottages and on the lanes, but must be on a lead anywhere near livestock.
