Sunday, April 8, 2018

Visiting The Farm Museum

On Good Friday, I paid a visit to the Canada Agriculture And Food Museum, which is housed on the Experimental Farm here in Ottawa. Today I am starting a series on the visit. I approached through the Arboretum, which is part of the farm property.


The federal government conducts research farming here on the Experimental Farm, with most of the buildings confined to the northeast area, while crop fields and pastures take up the rest of the land. As one of the national museums here in the region, this museum is a working farm, offering visitors both information throughout and a look at animals through a series of barns and other buildings. The main entrance is by this barn, the Dairy Barn. We'll get more looks at it through this series. Since this was the Easter weekend, there were a number of Easter related activities going on, and you can imagine it was very busy.


The Small Animal Barn houses pigs, goats, sheep, rabbits, and some chickens in sections. Over the winter the larger animals are kept indoors. I'm starting off with pigs, some of whom are kept in stalls with informational panels close by, including on the use of toys for the animals, and installations to keep piglets safe in their stalls with their mother during slumber- the idea is to keep piglets from being crushed by a sleeping mother. The barn has several breeds of pigs, something that turns out to be typical for the other animals here, which we'll see as we go along.


There were new piglets with their mothers in a section closed off to the public, but viewable through a window. 


This pair were quite content to snooze and ignore the human company passing through. I am adding this to Tom's Barn Collective theme, with more to come.

36 comments:

  1. Good to see farm animals well looked after. The piglets are adorable!

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  2. Pigs are really pretty nice animals. I never thought, though, that piglets needed to be protected from being crushed by their mother.

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  3. I like pigs, they can be very intelligent. But that a mother crashes on the piglets seems a bit strange to me.

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  4. Hello, William. The barn is very impressive. Just recently, my tiny great nephew held a piglet at a petting zoo. From the look on his face, he was smitten! I enjoyed the photos, especially the last one of the sleeping beauties! Have a great day.

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  5. Hello, I love the farm critters. Great tour of the museum. Happy Sunday, enjoy your day and new week ahead.

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  6. ...they spared no expense on this barn!

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  7. aww, those babies are so cute. love their tails. sweet! ( ;

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  8. Intelligent creatures, much under rated!

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  9. @Deb: so small compared to momma!

    @Lowell: it's the idea that she rolls over in her sleep. There is a partition added into the pen.

    @Gattina: it's understandable when one sees the display panels.

    @Mildred: lots of kids were fascinated by critters.

    @Eileen: lots more to come!

    @Tom: it is solidly built.

    @Beth: I can just imagine their noise!

    @Marie: I agree

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  10. That has to be one of the biggest barns I've ever seen.

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  11. This would be a great facility for urban people to have a look at agriculture.

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  12. I am going to like the series, I am sure!

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  13. Those hogs remind me of the ones I grew up with (seriously)!

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  14. That must have been interesting to visit.

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  15. The dairy barn itself is impressive! Love the little piglets. It's always great to see all the little baby animals
    Wendy

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  16. Beautiful farm house.

    I take this opportunity to give my condolences to the Humboldt Broncos families.

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  17. Love the piglets. They are so adorable!

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  18. @Sharon: it is quite an operation in there.

    @Red: it is. A lot of city people have no idea what goes into farming. I've grown up in the countryside, but there were surprises even for me.

    @Catarina: it's going to be extended. I'm still putting posts together. As long as I stay a few days ahead!

    @Norma: they're big animals.

    @Marleen: I enjoyed it.

    @Wendy: they're so small compared to their mother.

    @MDP: I had no idea that the story had made it beyond our borders. A shocking one.

    @Tamago: they certainly are quite the sight.

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  19. What a wonderful barn. In the region where I live we have a lot of farms with cattle.

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  20. This is fun! I haven't been in a long time.

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  21. Reminds me of Fiona--the piglets.
    Saw a mama crush one at the fair. Real tearjerker.

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  22. The piglets are really cute.

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  23. I love to go to this kind of place - so interesting, educational, and enjoyable!

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  24. I have been waiting for this since you mentioned it.
    Adore the little baby pigs so sweet.
    When I was in grade school we went on a tour to Shamrock Farms. We got to see the barns with the cows and I always remember that day. Now that I am living back here I buy Shamrock milk.

    cheers, parsnip

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  25. Now that's a cushy barn. Happy Sunday.

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  26. We kept the pigs inside during the winter also. It's fascinating to watch them being born. Here I thought I was going to see some of the old machinery of another era.

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  27. That barn looks huge, and quite a bit more sound than a typical one.

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  28. Makes me think I should be vegetarian.

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  29. This is a great idea for an Ag museum -- where could you learn more about agriculture than at an actual working farm. My husband would love the pigs and piglets -- he raised them as a boy in Future Farmers of America club (I guess he got expelled sometime along the way, because he didn't become one!)

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  30. We have an experimental farm not far from here but it's pretty much for crops so far. Nice to see you posting on The Barn Collective.

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  31. @Jan: the cattle is yet to come!

    @Klara: that they are.

    @Jennifer: it had been years since my last visit, before I started the photoblog.

    @Eve: there's good reason for setting up pens the way they do for pigs and piglets.

    @Bill: very much so!

    @Lea: it was thoroughly educational.

    @Parsnip: the cows in the dairy barn, their milk ends up going to market as well. Though the calves get first place before any other milk is sent out.

    @Betty: it is quite a structure.

    @Mari: there is some machinery yet to come. A lot of the museum context are in panels around the barns, but one of the buildings in particular has more of a museum feel, and its architecture looks more like a market building.

    @Kay: it looks solidly built.

    @RedPat: yes, you tend to get too attached to the cuteness of an animal.

    @Sallie: it's a wonderful concept, this museum, and people really respond to it.

    @Linda: it seemed appropriate to add it to the theme, and I'll do so again next week.

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  32. These pictures reminded me of the old days when my mom reared pigs behind our house! I used to play with the big and little pigs when I was a kid!

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    Replies
    1. My grandparents had some pigs on their farm, as I recall from stories.

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  33. A nice tour of the museum, thank you.
    Piglets are so cute!

    All the best Jan

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