New Horizon - Issue 3 - Turf

Delivering on reduced
operating costs for charity
Nick Painter, Farm Estate Manager,
“Anything that costs us too much money
has to go…”
As a registered charity, The Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary
relies totally on donations to operate successfully and expand
its facilities. Founded in 1987, and currently running on 60
acres of grazing land near Wroxall, the organisation cares
for around 100 donkeys that have either been abandoned,
rescued, need a home because of end of tenancies or just
because the owner can’t take care of them anymore.
Ten full-time staff, backed-up by as many as 50 volunteers,
manage the facility which attracts some 50,000 visitors per year
and with over 7,000 people sponsoring or adopting a donkey to
support the cause.
Farm Estate Manager, Nick Painter commented, “We don’t
charge visitors for entry to the sanctuary, rather depending on
donations from the public. It’s not just a collection of donkeys we
have here, it has in fact evolved into an effective learning facility,
a donkey therapy centre for old people’s homes, schools and
youth groups. It really touches people’s lives!”
Some of the visiting groups come from as far a-field as London
and Birmingham - where some children have never seen a donkey
or even a grass field before. “We find that our donkeys can be
totally therapeutic for all kinds of age groups,” said Nick, “mainly
because the animals are so gentle and approachable. From
young children to the elderly, our donkeys give our visitors a new
dimension, a positive view on life because we organise engaging
activities that get people up close and handling our donkeys. It
builds confidence and pride. Many of our visitors leave with a big
smile on their face and often return over and over again.”
Contrary to popular belief, Donkeys require a fairly basic
grazing regime that relies almost on ‘over-grazing’ because
their digestive system can’t handle lush grasses. At Wroxall,
they use a paddock system to manage the donkey groups and
if the grass gets too long, they make hay from it, for winter feed.
Maintenance mowing with a John Deere Zero-Turn mower helps
them keep everything trim.
“Being a charity run facility, we have to be very controlled with
our operating expenditure,” added Nick, “we don’t have lots
of money to spend on new equipment and anything that costs
us too much in repairs, has to go. We use a Utility vehicle to
transport materials and feed around the site and have just
changed out a Polaris because the repair bills were too high and
we couldn’t justify it. We purchased a ‘used’ John Deere 855D
Gator from Hunt Forest Group on the Island and it has proven
to be the right decision as it has improved the site efficiency and
reduced our operating costs significantly.”
Although the Gator had 1,000 hours on the clock, it had been
thoroughly checked-over by Hunt Forest technicians and been
given a 12-month warranty for total peace of mind for Nick and
his team.
“We once had a glow plug issue on the Gator,” commented Nick,
“and the Hunt Forest team came out and fixed it immediately,
without question. They’ve been really fantastic in helping us and
they always go the extra mile - which is more than comforting
for us. It also gives us peace of mind in buying used equipment.
Even though we don’t own the big tractor or shiny new combine,
we are still an important customer to them and they still give us
a first-class service.”
14 HUNTFOREST.COM