Our Farm Animals
When you give to our Fund-a-Farm Animal program, you are helping support sustainable agriculture in New York City. Your donation is used exclusively for the feeding and care of our livestock!
You can now Fund-a-Farm Animal quickly and conveniently online by selecting the farm animal you wish to support from the list below and clicking add to cart. Your support will be recognized on the Fund-a-Farm Animal board, located at the enterance to the farm for one year.
What are Heritage Breeds?
In addition to standard breeds we raise many heritage breeds of
livestock on the farm. Heritage breeds are animals with a history.
They are the animals that settlers needed to survive
in the
early years of our country. These animals are healthier and
heartier than many of their modern counterparts and thrive in more
natural environments.
Many heritage breeds of livestock are in danger of
disappearing
and our goal as a farm is to conserve these wonderful animals for
future generations by buying and breeding only pure heritage stock.
Cotswold Sheep
We
are starting a new fiber program at Queens County Farm Museum.
The goal is to produce lustrous wool from healthy sheep and
to
sell it here at the farm. For this program, we have chosen
the
Cotswold breed. This white sheep is one of the oldest
breeds
in the world. They are hearty animals who prefer to live on
the
pasture and don't need much more than salt, water and grass to be
happy. Their fleece is very fine and grows so quickly that it
needs to be sheared twice each year.
The farm sells a limited quantity of
unprocessed fleece. Please email us at info@queensfarm.org to
check availability.
Heritage Pigs
We raise heritage breed pigs here at the farm.
Our hogs are mix of three breeds-- Large Black, Tamworth, and
Gloucester Old Spots. These hogs prefer to live in the woods
where they can dig up roots for food. The Gloucester Old Spot
is
known as the "orchard pig" because it will eat fallen orchard fruit
without digging up and killing the roots of the fruit trees.
Our
pigs receive part of their feed from the wild and part of the feed from
spent brew grains from a local Brooklyn brewery.
Laying Hens
We have
two hundred heritage breed laying hens at the farm. The
flock lays about 10 dozen brown eggs each day. Our laying
hens are on grass all day and are fed oyster shells and alfalfa for
their health and for the production of high quality eggs.
Dairy Cows
Franny (formerly Felicia) and Dolly are our dairy cows. They are Brown Swiss, purchased from Hawthorne Valley Farm.
Goats
Our goats are happy, healthy and extremely friendly. You may buy feed for the goats from the gift shop.
Bees
The Queens County Farm Museum is home to Italian honey bees. Our raw wildflower honey is available for purchase in the gift shop or at the Union Square Greenmarket.