When our selection process was complete for Haven Farm Miniature Donkeys, we had then to begin the task of importing them to England. It sounded quite traumatic, as the first two Jennets Bonita and Cassandra would go into quarantine in July 2006. They would be collected by the dedicated staff at the EZ2Spot ranch and would then begin their 30 days in quarantine, in Houston, Texas.

During their stay they would undergo their blood tests for Vesicular Stomatitus or V.S. and would also have to provide a negative Coggins test. We waited with baited breath, until the email came from Terry and Dianne to say all of the blood’s had been drawn, all was well and the test results were negative.
Being new to the import side of things, we decided to arrange the shipping of our girls through the international freight company – EMO trans, who in turn used KLM Cargo to ship the little donkeys into Schipol airport in an equine Cargo crate.

As the day of their arrival, approached – rapidly, I packed my bags and was bound for Houston, ready to meet all, that had been involved in the girls export but alas with the terrorist alerts at an all time high, I decided to keep my feet on the floor. Hence, we set off for Schipol last August, to meet the girls, ourselves, after their long flight and teach ourselves about the world of importing; state vets; import duties and just exactly how long you have to wait at the airport to collect your girls and set off for England!!

Once the flight arrived, we waited with anticipation…….we knew the girls had had a good flight as Terry, from EZ2Spot had flown over to England with them, as required by all airlines that import any equine animals. We sorted all of the paperwork out with the import duties etc. and then waited for the vet to give his approval… and we waited… and waited… and waited. Eventually, after 6 hrs wait and more bloods drawn from the girls, we were allowed to set off with our two little girls, nervous and curious about the next leg of their journey.

We traveled to Amsterdam port and set sail for Dover, eventually. I don’t think many companies realise the importance of shipping when livestock is onboard, and we were no exception! We finally set sail at 2115hrs and arrived in Dover just after midnight, with a stop to feed and water the girls. It seemed a very long slog up the motorway to the North of England. We finally arrived home at 0530hrs on the 23rd August 2006. 2 days after leaving home!

We had now begun the first episode of HAVEN FARM MINATURE DONKEYS and yes… we were hooked.

The next girls went into quarantine in October 2006 and arrived over here, by a very dedicated haulier, Mr Alan Pearce of Glyncoch haulage, and we are about to take our next two girls in April 2007. All of our girls, are bred to sires from the Short ASSets ranch, Eddy in Texas. And it is to Mrs Brenda Short that I say a very big thank you. One, for getting me hooked on these adorable, beautiful and intelligent little creatures and two, for allowing me the fountain of her knowledge when it came to narrowing down our selection process for our Jennets, as our Criteria was for showing and breeding stock, with good pedigree’s and above all – excellent conformation. This we feel has been achieved all round.

We learnt on this exercise that from the start of the selection process to actually receiving the donkeys at the farm, doesn't’t happen overnight. It took from May to August for our first girls to arrive and from May to December for our next girls to arrive.

Patience is definitely a virtue and well worth it!!