Lifestyle block animals

Healthy goats have good appetites, glossy coats, clear, bright eyes, and are interested in everything around them.

Pigs are social and intelligent animals. They are a sub-species of the wild boar, and can live up to 15 years! Before you decide to care for pigs, it is important to consider whether you have the time, resources, and knowledge, as well as the right environment to care for your pigs properly.

Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease, also known as Rabbit Calicivirus Disease, is caused by Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus (RHDV) is a highly contagious, usually fatal disease that can affect all domestic and wild rabbits.

Across New Zealand, roosters often find themselves stigmatised for their distinct crow and overlooked in favour of their egg-producing female counterparts, hens.

While ducks can make great companions, they are also a serious commitment. Before you decide to care for ducks, it is important to consider whether you have the time, resources, and knowledge, as well as the right environment to care for your ducks properly.

Male deer (stags) grow and shed antlers each year. ‘Velvet antler’ refers to antlers that are still growing – during this stage, they are covered with a velvet-like covering of soft fine hair. While growing, velvet antler receives a full blood supply and contains nerve endings. In New Zealand, deer velvet is surgically removed from farmed red deer (wapiti) and is sold as a health supplement or traditional medicine and often exported.

Goats are ruminant herbivores and differ from sheep and cattle in that goats are browsers.

It is best to get your goat used to being handled from a young age, so future visits from the veterinarian or other people is not stressful. At all times, goats should be handled quietly, gently and confidently. Goats will quickly become habituated to your presence and will actively seek out positive interactions with you, when treated kindly and in a positive manner.

All animals should live in an appropriate environment, and one which reflects the five freedoms. The conditions and surroundings that an animal lives in, contributes to the animal’s overall well-being, both behavioural and physiologic

Before you decide to get sheep, it is important to consider whether you have the time, resources, and knowledge, as well as the right environment to care for your sheep properly.