Hackney City Farm is looking for “creative” methods to raise cash as its Lottery grant has come to end after nine years.

The farm, in Goldsmith’s Row, Haggerston, is looking to raise money to pay for the welfare of the animals that live there, including donkeys, pigs and goats, in its Feed the Animals campaign.

A crowd funding scheme, accepting donations and selling “perks” such a t-shirts or visits to meet the animals, has already raised £3,000 towards the farm’s £20,000 goal.

Farm manager, Chris Pounds, 48, who commutes to the farm on a daily basis from Kent, said: “Food and bedding costs have gone up, plus we need to cover the cost of paying the livestock workers’ wages. We also run some classes and work experience here and we’d like to carry on funding that.

“We were very lucky to get nine years funding from the Lottery, usually funding is three years, six if you are lucky. Now we need to be a lot more creative with our fundraising.”

The farm has approximately 100,000 visitors a year and the crowd raising scheme is an effort keep entry free.

“We don’t want to introduce a charge for visitors to come in,” Mr Pounds said. “We are proud that it is free. We want to give people the opportunity to help fund us.”

Donators giving via the website can buy a pack of seeds for £10, a photo framed of themselves with their favourite animal from the farm and a pack of free range eggs can be purchased for £45, and £500 will buy you a carriage ride around Haggerston Park, pulled by Clover the donkey, followed by dinner in the farm’s café.

The money raised will go towards animal care, paying the wages of the staff that look after them 365 days a year and other general daily running costs.

Mr Pounds added: “The feed comes from a local mill and its price depends on the cost of grain and everything like that. All those have been rising. It used to be £5 for a bag of feed and now its £9. We have to bring hay and straw into London from outside and we have to pay congestion costs.”