Watch: This is how ‘Game of Thrones’ saved an entire farm in Northern Ireland
Nearly every animal seen on the show, minus the horses (and dragons), comes from Kenny Gracey’s farm.
Game of Thrones may appear to be dominated by dragons and, perhaps, wolves. But there are plenty of other real animals that understandably go unnoticed in the series – the dogs, the goats, the pigs, the sheep.
All of them come from Kenny Gracey’s farm in Northern Island. Forthill Farm in Country Armagh, which breeds native, traditional animals like long-horn cattle, Jacob sheep and saddleback pigs, was going through a difficult time a few years ago. That was the time HBO started filming the first season of Game of Thrones.
During a hunt for rare animals for the show, the makers of the series came across Gracey’s farm and asked if he’d be willing to supply animals for production. Since then, the animals have become minor celebrities themselves.
“This was a godsend to me,” Gracey says, in the video above. “Game of Thrones afforded me the luxury, so to speak, of doing what I love, and that is working with animals.”
For once, the show actually saved lives instead of destroying them.