ANIMALS came in two by two at one of Yorkshire’s best-known farms.
And they are proving a handful at Cannon Hall Farm, Cawthorne.
The latest arrivals are a rare set of twin Soay lambs, who join other babies including a llama, a Shetland filly, plenty of piglets and over 700 lambs.
Farmer Robert Nicholson said: “They have arrived just in time for the school holidays.
“We have a small flock of about 20 Soay ewes and they should all be lambing over the next few weeks.
“This means that we are expecting a further 30 of the rare breed.”
Soay sheep are originally a primitive breed from the Western Isles of Scotland.
Mr Nicholson added: “We have piglets being born every week, llamas and donkeys due next month and pygmy goats on their way.
“In a given year, with 400 ewes, we will usually have about 700 lambs”.
The 200-acre farm already boasts kune pigs, alpacas, wallabies, rabbits, pheasants and other caged birds and is getting ready for lots more baby animals.
Farm staff are expecting thousands of visitors in the coming weeks.
Mr Nicholson said: “We are quite conscious that there is less money about but that just makes us try harder.
“We have just invested £½m on an adventure playground, so there is about £1 million worth of kit on the farm now.”
Mr Thompson, who runs the farm with his two brothers and his parents said: “We are a family run business and first opened our cafe in 1981. We have been growing gradually since and about 10 years ago we opened our farm shop”.
