March 22, 2023 9.00 am This story is over 26 months old

The Lincolnite meets Rand Farm Park’s adorable newborn animals

The magic of Rand Farm Park never disappears

| Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

By Ellis Karran Local Democracy Reporter

For almost 30 years, Rand Farm Park has been Lincolnshire’s go-to place for adorable farm animals.

The wholesome family fun of bottle-feeding lambs or feeding cows is a tradition that is yet to grow old.

The farm park, located eight miles east of Lincoln near Market Rasen, first opened in February 1996 for around 100 visitors.

Since then it has grown from strength to strength – expanding from a pig farm to an all-encompassing family experience venue, with various farm animals, soft play areas, cafes and even educational facilities for children to learn about the animals.

Rand Farm Park proudly demonstrates the close bond between humankind and animals. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Too cute! | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

There are well over 100 animals at Rand Farm, including around 30 cows, 35 sheep, two alpacas, 20 goats, ten pigs and a few birds.

What has made Rand Farm Park excel has been the level of customer interaction it can offer.

Daily bottle feeding brings the public closer than ever to these animals. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

An animal’s favourite time of day at Rand Farm – feeding time! | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Daily exhibitions are on for the public to watch live cow milking sessions, handle furry friends such as rabbits and guinea pigs, feed goats and cows, or even bottle feed the adorable lambs.

The Lincolnite had a go at these activities as we visited the farm ahead of its packed Easter and summer schedules.

These will include regular activities during school holidays and even a music festival with camping space later this year.

Lincoln Red Cattle love interacting with visitors. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

The animals are far from shy, they LOVE the camera | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

We also caught up with the amazing lamb triplets that became national news earlier this year, after their surprise birth saw three lambs of two different breeds emerge from the same ewe.

This happened after the ewe’s period season saw two male sheep breed with her, resulting in the breed mashup from her flock of newly born sheep.

The famous lamb triplets are still at Rand Farm Park, and this before and after picture shows that they have grown since last time we visited! | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

The lambs are much bigger now, but are still soaking up the attention they receive, occupying celebrity status amongst their fellow creatures at the farm.

We were then introduced to the new Herdwick lamb arrivals, who have taken place in the large sheep pen with their mothers.

The new Herdwick lambs are impossibly cute | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Many of the sheep looked dejected that the Herdwick lambs were stealing the spotlight! | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Without a doubt, the highlight of the trip was learning about one particularly cheeky goat and his imposter syndrome.

He has made the cow pen his home, and somehow managed to convince the cows he was one of them by the looks of it, as he is regularly looked after by the herd – sometimes even sharing food with them!

Despite his kind being in the pen next door, this goat appears to have be an advocate of creature identity fluidity, and it is something the staff at Rand Farm very rarely see.

The cheeky chap who fancies himself as a cow, living in the pen with the cattle herd rather than his resident goats. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

The cows don’t seem to mind their new pen-mate! | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Rand Festival

Later in the year, Rand Festival will take place at the park, running on the weekend of Friday, August 11 with live music to go alongside the typical attractions at Rand Farm Park.

Radio DJs Scott Mills and Chris Stark host an “Epic Night Out” on the Friday, with local acts performing live before Scott and Chris take to the decks for a DJ set.

Food and a licensed bar serving drinks will be on site for the evening, and the Epic Night Out runs from 4pm to 11pm. Tickets for the Friday night cost £25 and can be bought via the Rand Farm Park website.

On Saturday and Sunday, the Rand Festival will offer weekend camping tickets, meaning you can stay close to the action all weekend. Tickets can again be accessed at Rand Farm’s website and start at £25 for weekend festival passes.

You can see more photos from our visit to Rand Farm Park, captured by Steve Smailes Photography, below: