A DUMFRIES farm which has a global following has won a national award for having the best farming digital presence.
Dalscone Farm recently scooped the Digital Presence Award from the National Farming Attraction Network Awards in Harrogate.
The family-run farm has a worldwide social media audience who are glued daily to see what happens in the fields and sheds.
Usually farmer Pete Best or son Ben livestream the good and bad days at the farm and spotlight the stories of some of their animals.
It all started with owner Pete and park manager Ben updating people across the globe with how their animals were coping and their adventures to help cheer up those who were in lockdown.
The popularity of the videos steadily increased month to month and now the clips on their Facebook and Youtube are being viewed regularly by thousands.
Some of the most watched involve donkeys Pumpkin and Winston. But there have also been births, feeding time and animals enjoying the outdoors.
Videos are averaging 20,000 views with their highest viewed one being Pumpkin doing a roly-poly with nine million views, followed by the live birth of Pumpkin which is just south of five million views.
Other animals at the farm, located on Edinburgh Road, feature in the videos too, including little goat kid Miracle.
Ben said: “We started the videos in lockdown last year with a small following at the start.
“People have been intrigued with animal births and how we looked after them and it progressed from there.
“It has been a real success and they have fans worldwide. It’s all been crazy with the reaction. It’s great.”
And the streams gathered gigantic momentum which has led to the well-deserved award.
Ben added: “We’re absolutely over the moon with the outcome and thank you all so much for your lovely messages.
“We’ve never even been nominated for an award before, and we certainly didn’t expect to win as there’s so much competition throughout Britain.
“We’re really flattered and we couldn’t be happier with it.”
