Sam
“El Graco Lavros” is Sam’s racing name, he was a pacer in his finest hours and can still be seen prancing around the paddock in typical pacer style if he hears the voices on the PA system at the nearby go kart track. Sam is the boss of all the horses and insists on having the first carrot at the gate and likes to keep all the other horses and ponies in line. Of course this also means that he is always ready to show the kids just how to hold the carrots when they are feeding the horses.
Big Boy
This big guy is definitely the second in charge but knows to just roll his eyes and move away when Sam is being all bossy. Big boy came to stay at Tarnasey Farm from a property in the Riverland as a rescue because his owner was forced from their property and couldn’t keep him. He also arrived with Princess and Charlie as his companions and can often be seen sharing his food with Princess or with her standing under his belly in the shade on a hot sunny day
Chippy
Mr Cheeky!! My gosh this boy has some character. Chippy is the youngest of group and also the most curious and oh so very entertaining. He likes to sniff EVERYTHING! He tips everything over including the farrier’s tool box when he comes along with anything else he can find. He loves people and adores every second of any attention he can get, definitely a show pony in more ways than one. A warning, he also likes to know how things taste to and has been known to just try and have a little taste of fingers, clothes and everything in between. So, so , so very cheeky but what a character.
Willow
This chocolate brown girl came to us from Roxby Downs as a “riding pony” and likes to let the rest of the gang know that she is around. She is very fond of her food and, of course, carrots are a big favourite. Willow can be a little “high maintenance” when she is in the mood and will definitely let the boys know if they are annoying her but she ALWAYS loves to be around kids because it means she will get lots of attention and usually some carrots as well.
Charlie
Our little white gentleman of the paddock. Charlie is the white Pony and came to us a couple of years ago in a really bad way with extensive hoof problems but with some time and effort put into him he is looking a lot better. He still needs lots of care but he is happy and pain free and is a bit of a loner and only really entertains the company of Sunny when he is feeling sociable. He is incredibly gentle and quiet and has been a dream to work with and we love him to bits even if he is out quiet little introvert.
Willow
This chocolate brown girl came to us from Roxby Downs as a “riding pony” and likes to let the rest of the gang know that she is around. She is very fond of her food and, of course, carrots are a big favourite. Willow can be a little “high maintenance” when she is in the mood and will definitely let the boys know if they are annoying her but she ALWAYS loves to be around kids because it means she will get lots of attention and usually some carrots as well.
Snotty & Daisy
These two girls are our residents pigs (black & white berkshire). Snotty was actually seized from her previous owners by the RSPCA under court order and had a incredibly rough start to her life. She actually went straight into foster care and was nursed back into condition by a lady that spoke in dutch to her and she still responds to it! She has continued to improve and is now a healthy, happy and content girl and her most favourite food is chocolate cake which she gets sometimes for a treat. For the most part she is happy with some hay, vegetable scraps and loves her apples. Daisy is our smaller pig and came to us a little more than a piglet at about 5 months old. Her previous owners were give Daisy as a gift but quickly realised she was going to grow much larger than they anticipated so she has come to spend her life here, rolling in the mud, eating a LOT of fruit and vegies and laying in the sun on cool days and occaisionally giving Snotty a hard time.
Coco
Oh my gosh! This little girl took my heart. I received a call from a local family in 2015 saying that their Alpacas had baby and they had been away for a couple of days in Adelaide and came home to find that the mother had passed away. They found the baby standing next to its mother in the paddock and they had no idea what to do.
As hobby farms trying to get into the paddock to get this baby was quite a challenge as the father was quite aggressive towards people. So with a little bit of distraction the dad was kept away and I managed to run through a gate and scooped up this baby into my arms, the most adorable thing. She was hungry, thirsty and missing her mum. At a tiny 5kg she fit in the floor well of my car and I brought her home, mixed up some milk and tried to give her a bottle. The first bottle was like trying to put a octopus in a freezer bag while it was still alive, there was legs and stuff going everywhere she had no idea. But, it didn’t take her long to cotton onto the idea that what I was trying to do wasn’t that bad and she soon began to drink. She began to grow and entertain, she became the best of friends with Mic and they still are. She remembers every year when he comes, they reacquaint she sniffs him, he doesn’t care and they run off and play together. She adores him! She absolutely believes that I am her mum and loves nothing more than a kiss from me however she is not too old to not want to play and if you see her out in the paddock and I happen to be nearby she quite likes to jump on top of me and try to wrestle and play as she would with a sibling or another member of the herd. She decides instantly the people she likes or not, she can spit and has been known to do so when provoked but generally she is quite happy to just be fed and have attention. Those big brown eyes, beautiful eyelashes she is an adorable face to see every morning when we head down to feed the animals.
Pricilla
Pricilla is the youngest and the newest heard member. Although she is the youngest she is full of sass!! she loves a snuggle. Pricilla came to us in 2020 at a week old after her mum had unfortunately died.
Stewie
This guy loves a kiss good morning! He has brown spots on his nose and lips and is so incredibly snuggly. This guy was picked up beside Port Wakefield road with not a sheep in sight and he was in a bad way. Trish and her daughter Tahlia searched long and hard to see if there was a herd anyway but couldn’t find any other sheep and he would more than likely have perished. He is very snuggly but just lately has taken to a quick head butt if he gets to sneak one in while you’re not looking.
Millie
The not so little “Miss Millie” was picked up as an orphan by a farmer and had a family offer to keep her. Unbeknown to this farmer the family thought that it would be ok to keep her in the back yard with their small dogs. As much as that was a lovely thought it quickly became apparent that she needed more care than they first anticipated. So Millie moved to Tarnasey Farm and began to enjoy her life with the flock and after a couple of years became a mum to a beautiful little lamb called Lucy.
Lucy
As the only lamb at the farm that has not been hand raised she is a little shy around humans but loves being in a flock with her mum and they are usually found hanging around together and don’t stray too far from each other.
Tilly
The loveliest little lamb of the flock. Tilly came to us in 2017 and is the smallest even though she most likely still has some growing to do. The other sheep are a bit bossy towards her and she is a bit of a loner but she loves seeing the kids come to visit and adores a rub on the cheek or under her chin and a cuddle.
Rambo
This guy is an absolute stand out! Rambo is the “black & white” boy and he absolutely loves a scratch under his tummy or his chin. This is mainly due to the fact that he is a Dorper so he “sheds” his wool and he was hand raised from around a week old so he also loves human attention.
Rambo
This guy is an absolute stand out! Rambo is the “black & white” boy and he absolutely loves a scratch under his tummy or his chin. This is mainly due to the fact that he is a Dorper so he “sheds” his wool and he was hand raised from around a week old so he also loves human attention.
Rambo
This guy is an absolute stand out! Rambo is the “black & white” boy and he absolutely loves a scratch under his tummy or his chin. This is mainly due to the fact that he is a Dorper so he “sheds” his wool and he was hand raised from around a week old so he also loves human attention.
Rambo
This guy is an absolute stand out! Rambo is the “black & white” boy and he absolutely loves a scratch under his tummy or his chin. This is mainly due to the fact that he is a Dorper so he “sheds” his wool and he was hand raised from around a week old so he also loves human attention.
Rambo
This guy is an absolute stand out! Rambo is the “black & white” boy and he absolutely loves a scratch under his tummy or his chin. This is mainly due to the fact that he is a Dorper so he “sheds” his wool and he was hand raised from around a week old so he also loves human attention.
Rambo
This guy is an absolute stand out! Rambo is the “black & white” boy and he absolutely loves a scratch under his tummy or his chin. This is mainly due to the fact that he is a Dorper so he “sheds” his wool and he was hand raised from around a week old so he also loves human attention.
Chaos
Oh my goodness, this smoochie fellow has my heart. Chaos was aptly named as he joined us at Tarnasey Farm in December 2016 right in the middle of our lives being absolute chaos. We were in the middle of building sheds on the property, fencing, getting the cabins on line and taking over the produce business and moving it to the property. As soon as I laid eyes on him I knew he had to have a place here and he is front and centre to say good morning every single morning. He loves to give kisses and is oh so gentle, my little super star.
Bambi
Bambi is our resident lady boss!!!! She came to us at a year old in the back of a priest from a family that had her in their back yard and could no longer look after her. She is know to head but occasionally when she's in a mood, and she can also be very smoochy!! she is the first one at the fence or carrots and will make her presence known to the other sheep!
Winga
This cheeky little guy came to live at Tarnasey Farm from a friends house in Wallaroo, he had been there for a while and he liked to wake up the entire neighbourhood every morning and was known to be quite vocal. Winga arrived with a couple of other friends, being chickens but they seemed to wander off to do their own thing so he looked a bit lost for a few days until he worked out that the food was yummy, that the kids wanted to feed him and that he didn’t need to be quite so shy here. Regardless you could still hear him every morning letting the world know that he is awake and so should everyone else be. Winga is very cute and got a whole lot of character for a little duck, we love him here at Tarnasey Farm!
Wilbur
Well his owners got him at 3 days old after he could bearly breath he was going to be donged and their daughter at age 7 sobbed cuddling him telling him she was sorry she couldn't save him so they did let her try thinking he wouldn’t survive but a child’s love and her syringe feeding him he pulled through! He was living in their backyard with 2 dogs but very quickly out grew it! He came to us at 8 months old and well look at him now! Thriving with the biggest attitude, funniest personality and an absolute show off! He is the star of the show here at Tarnasey Farm!
Our Girls
We usually keep around 35 Isa Brown chickens, sometimes we have various other breeds of chickens arrive from various places for various reasons. Our chickens are all free range and left to scratch around and do what chickens like to do. They provide us with fresh eggs for the children to collect and we also sell the eggs which are available for guests to purchase. Our girls have quite different personalities which some being shy and others not so much, some love their food others or not too bothered by it. We get them all from Gumview Eggs, a free range farm located at Paskeville and they are completely free range however if you notice any that are missing a few feathers it is probably because they have been a little bit hen pecked and down the food chain so to speak. Once they come here the number of chickens are a lot lower so they get to have their own space and within about six weeks we find that their feathers have grown back, they start to fill out and hopefully have a nice retirement here at Tarnasey Farm.
Salt
Salt is the coloured goat with a white paint stripe down her tummy. She has been at Tarnasey Farm since 2011 and arrived shortly after we had purchased the property with her twin sister Pepper. Unfortunately both were quite ill when they came to us and Pepper did not make it but Salt has thrived, becoming a very healthy and content little goat. Although she was hand raised and loved to bits by all the kids she does seem a little bit distance, however she will come up for food. Salt has her place in the goat herd being about middle of the range. She will stand up for herself but certainly doesn’t rule the roost. Quite a bit of character and on the odd day can be found to be jumping around and playing with the boys and putting her head down and giving them a run for their money. A special place in our heart being one of the first animals to come live her life at Tarnasey Farm.
Caramello & Shadey
Caramello is our coloured goat and Shadey is black with brown patches on her cheeks. They were left in a backyard in Adelaide and we got a call from the RSPCA to ask if we would take two goats. We picked them up and brought them to Tarnasey Farm, we were told that they were both girls who had been left in an abandoned house in Adelaide and were obviously used to keep the grass down around the house. When they came to us both were very skinny, needed a lot of care and attention which we were able to give them. We started to feed them little bits and pieces, slowly building up the amount of feed and they became healthy, glowing, content goats and appeared quite happy with where they were. They started to put on some weight and condition, then they put on more weight and more weight, then I thought I should stop feeding them so much as they were getting quite round. After hearing a strange noise one morning I went to investigate only to find that we had brand new baby goats, with five being born. Instantly our herd had grown from two to seven goats plus Salt which made eight. Three of the babies are still here with us being Squirt, Licorice and Uno, Uno being the first animal ever born at Tarnasey Farm. The other two goats went to live on a hobby farm in the Adelaide Hills because once they had all grown up to about a year old the herd was too big for us to keep here, we also wanted to eliminate interbreeding.
Caramello & Shadey
Caramello is our coloured goat and Shadey is black with brown patches on her cheeks. They were left in a backyard in Adelaide and we got a call from the RSPCA to ask if we would take two goats. We picked them up and brought them to Tarnasey Farm, we were told that they were both girls who had been left in an abandoned house in Adelaide and were obviously used to keep the grass down around the house. When they came to us both were very skinny, needed a lot of care and attention which we were able to give them. We started to feed them little bits and pieces, slowly building up the amount of feed and they became healthy, glowing, content goats and appeared quite happy with where they were. They started to put on some weight and condition, then they put on more weight and more weight, then I thought I should stop feeding them so much as they were getting quite round. After hearing a strange noise one morning I went to investigate only to find that we had brand new baby goats, with five being born. Instantly our herd had grown from two to seven goats plus Salt which made eight. Three of the babies are still here with us being Squirt, Licorice and Uno, Uno being the first animal ever born at Tarnasey Farm. The other two goats went to live on a hobby farm in the Adelaide Hills because once they had all grown up to about a year old the herd was too big for us to keep here, we also wanted to eliminate interbreeding.
Licorice, Uno & Squirt
These three characters are the babies of Caramello and Shadey. Uno was the first animal born here at Tarnasey Farm which was a bit of a surprise discovery as we didn’t realise that his mum, who came to us as a rescue, was pregnant. Shadey gave birth to triplets, not identical as Licorice who was the smallest is all black and Squirt who is the youngest of the triplets and has the colourings of his dad. They are now both desexed as much as they tried to avoid it by jumping out of the trailer in the middle of Kadina and running down the street. Luckily the police were in attendance at another matter and were able to assist in containing them and loading them back in to the trailer and to the vets. They have both challenged each other many times over being the most superior in the herd and are often seen wrestling each other or giving each other a bit of attitude just to see who sits where.
Licorice, Uno & Squirt
These three characters are the babies of Caramello and Shadey. Uno was the first animal born here at Tarnasey Farm which was a bit of a surprise discovery as we didn’t realise that his mum, who came to us as a rescue, was pregnant. Shadey gave birth to triplets, not identical as Licorice who was the smallest is all black and Squirt who is the youngest of the triplets and has the colourings of his dad. They are now both desexed as much as they tried to avoid it by jumping out of the trailer in the middle of Kadina and running down the street. Luckily the police were in attendance at another matter and were able to assist in containing them and loading them back in to the trailer and to the vets. They have both challenged each other many times over being the most superior in the herd and are often seen wrestling each other or giving each other a bit of attitude just to see who sits where.
Licorice, Uno & Squirt
These three characters are the babies of Caramello and Shadey. Uno was the first animal born here at Tarnasey Farm which was a bit of a surprise discovery as we didn’t realise that his mum, who came to us as a rescue, was pregnant. Shadey gave birth to triplets, not identical as Licorice who was the smallest is all black and Squirt who is the youngest of the triplets and has the colourings of his dad. They are now both desexed as much as they tried to avoid it by jumping out of the trailer in the middle of Kadina and running down the street. Luckily the police were in attendance at another matter and were able to assist in containing them and loading them back in to the trailer and to the vets. They have both challenged each other many times over being the most superior in the herd and are often seen wrestling each other or giving each other a bit of attitude just to see who sits where.
Karma
Oh my goodness, where do I even try to start describing a goat that came to us thinking it was dog. Karma arrived from being in a very spoilt home, unfortunately his owners could not take him with them to where they were moving to. We put him into the goat pen where he stood with his tail in the corner for three days looking at the other goats totally mystified at what they actually were. The other goats weren’t all that kind to Karma so we moved him in with sheep and thought they would be kinder and a little less aggressive towards him. Karma decided that he would be aggressive towards the sheep. We weren’t sure what to do next, in the end he was put out in the paddock with all of the other animals including the alpaca, cows and horses. Eventually after about a year the goats accepted Karma and he became part of the herd. He is definitely not the alpha male but he holds his own now. Karma still remains quite tame and can be patted, he is the first one that goes up to the kids to eat from their tubs. Karma is absolutely without a doubt food driven and a very important part of the fur-baby clan here at Tarnasey Farm.
Opie & Rocket
These two fluff balls are Mareema’s (Italian work dog). Oapie came from a farm in Murray bridge and rocket came from a farm in paskaville. These boys try and steal the show with their cutness and funny charm, and give every a good laugh when they try and steal everyones carrots.
Ruby & Roxy
Ruby is our Murray Grey cows, she came to live at the farm in 2014 as a 3 day old calve she was hand raised and bottle fed everyday by myself and guests during farm tours and grew into a beautiful affectionate, very dribbly, cow. she is often seen to give a big cow lick in the mornings, she has the most beautiful wet noses and absolutely LOVES her food. She then went to visit a male friend in the next paddock, a black angus bull, owned by our neighbours and she produced a gorgeous calve in December 2016. The lighter calf is Roxy. We were very fortunate to see her born in the middle of the Christmas rush. Ruby gave birth right next to the shed and calved very well resulting in a beautiful little calve coming safely into the world. We made sure to go into the pen with them and handle them a lot, Ruby and Roxy were content with that making it easier for us to get them use to people. Our two beautiful cows wouldn’t be anywhere else, they adore people, they love their food and have a very special place in our hearts here.