Here at Surrey Docks Farm we pride ourselves in the way we raise our livestock. All our animals are farmed to free range standards and given the best possible welfare.

As a working farm and education charity running on a tight budget, all the animals help contribute to their keep. This includes activities like animal handling sessions, mobile farm visits to community events and schools, as well as selling our quality farm produce.

Over the last two years we’ve had to vastly reduce our animal activities due to the pandemic, as such the Farm continues to face huge financial pressures to keep running and remain open for free to visitors. If you’d like to support the Farm, you can help contribute to the increasing costs of feeding and caring for our livestock by donating or buying a gift via our wishlist, full details here.

Find out more about our livestock and the animals you can meet when visiting the Farm via the links below:

Goats – We have a small herd of eight nanny goats that live in our yard in the centre of the Farm. Four of our goats are pregnant and due to kid from late April onwards.

Sheep – Within our flock of ten sheep, we have five rare-breed sheep called Oxford Down, some mixed-breed ewes and one Zwartbles ewe. Four of our ewes are pregnant and due to lamb this Spring. We’ve also taken on eight lambs from commercial farms that were either triplets or orphans and need bottle-feeding. 

Pigs – We currently have four Middle White pigs. These are a rare breed of pig with a characteristic short upturned nose and live out in our pig field near the muck heap. In April we took on some Oxford Sandy & Black weaners, approx 10 weeks old. While they’re still little they’ll stay in the pig pens on the yard.

Cows – We have two cows on the Farm, they are Aberdeen Angus cross males and are about a year old. 

Pony – We have a cheeky Miniature Shetland Pony called Kiera, she is often the star of our mobile farm events!

Poultry – We have a flock of free-range chickens on the yard and several ducks and geese that live by the duck pond. The chickens and ducks lay eggs for us to sell in our farm shop. At present the poultry are all kept under netting and can’t be fed by visitors, as we need to abide to DEFRA guidelines and minimise any risks of our birds catching Avian Flu from wild birds.

Small Animals – Our rabbits and guinea pigs are very popular. They take part in animal handling sessions in the holidays and are the perfect travel size to go on our outreach sessions to local community groups. 

Bees – The Farm has it’s own apiary with several bee hives in the orchard. In the Summer we offer beginner beekeeping taster sessions and in the Autumn we harvest the honey and sell this through the farm shop.

Updated April 2022