The Woolly Patchwork Sheep Sanctuary

Bleatings from the Woolly Patchwork Sheep Sanctuary

Welcome to another newsletter and a big welcome to all our new Sanctuary family members.

I can’t believe it’s nearly the end of August! So much seems to have happened since the last newsletter. The summer months are always a busy time.
The annual shearing of the flock took place at the beginning of June. I had already hand sheared a few of the really old girls myself and then our lovely careful shearer Ned came over and sheared the rest of the flock.
It was a busy 24 hours as we had arranged to shear on the Sunday morning, but Saturday night was wet so I had to gather the sheep into the sheds for the night as they need to be dry to shear.

First thing Sunday morning, I sorted them out into colour groups. Because I sell the fleeces to spinners and crafters, I don’t want colour contamination in the fleece, so the sheep are always sheared in the following order:

Good whites – Blue faced Leicesters, Texels, and Lleyn etc

Welsh whites – All the Welsh ewes, Jacobs, Browns and greys.

The 2 boys are always sheared at the end, but everything is swept and cleaned beforehand so their fleeces don’t get bits of coloured wool stuck to them. There is a lot of sweeping that goes on throughout the day as I like a clean mat for each sheep to be sheared on.

As each one is sheared, she runs out into the field alongside the shed and can relax, grazing in the fresh grass. I’m sure it’s a big relief to get the weight of wool of their backs and they must feel so much cooler and fresher

On shearing day, I noticed that once Kelly was relieved of her massive fleece she had a large lump on the side of her throat. I had a quick look before she went out and suspected an abscess. The following day I got her in to have a really good look at it. Often the sheep will jump up the fences and pick at the hedges, and it’s not uncommon to find they get a blackthorn or something pricking them. I thought it would be just a case of inserting a large needle to drain and flush the abscess. But there was no pus in the lump. I consulted my vet, who said I’d probably just missed the pocket of pus by not using a big enough needle. I asked him to come and have a look at it as I was concerned about it, something just didn’t seem right. Sadly it wasn’t an abscess. A biopsy was taken, and it was diagnosed as a thyroid tumour.

Unfortunately, there was nothing beneficial that could be done treatment wise, so it was decided that as Kelly was well and happy, in good condition and the tumour was not affecting her ability to eat or breathe or enjoy a good quality of life, that she should just be left to be a sheep and enjoy her life for as long as possible. When that changes, which it will, because the tumour is growing, and her quality of life becomes compromised then we will have to make further decisions. But I hope that will be a way off and she can continue to be with us for a long while yet. Such a beautiful girl and only 10 years old.

I’ve been busy with fieldwork during the dry weather. Topping the rushes that grow in the damp areas of the fields. Once they start to re grow, the sheep often nibble the fresh shoots, so they help in the control as well.

As usual, there are more jobs than I have time for. In July we had a heatwave and the thermometer reached 38c one day!! We had a week of 30c plus weather. Too hot to be out working in the sun at peak times, so it was early starts to do a few jobs and then inside jobs for the bulk of the day. Back out again once it cooled a little in the evenings to finish outdoor work. The sheep spent most of the day shading under the hedges and trees, just venturing out in the early mornings and cool evenings.

At the end of July, we welcomed 2 new girls to the Sanctuary. Kiss and Kohl, pedigree Gotlands. Both are 5 years old and have come from a local smallholder who is downsizing and moving away to England. Both have been used for breeding but Kohl has had mastitis and is unable to be used for further breeding. I was asked if I could offer her a home. I was happy to do so but could see that she was closely bonded to Kiss, so asked if she could come with her friend. Luckily the owners agreed to this. Both girls have settled in well and are still in quarantine until the end of August.

All new arrivals at the Sanctuary will spend a month in quarantine. They will be wormed, vitamined, have a pedicure and any unsightly bits of contaminated fleece trimmed off their rear ends (you know what I mean…) Quarantine is important, because it is very easy to bring disease into a flock and very hard to get rid of it once it’s here!

A few days after arrival, I noticed Kiss has a slightly cloudy eye. This is usually a sign of a highly infectious eye problem. I started treatment immediately with eye ointment, but only had a little left in the tube so asked my vet to drop more into me (he only lives a mile down the road so always drops meds into me on his way past). He was intrigued to see the new girls as he wasn’t familiar with Gotlands. There aren’t many of them round here!! He was of the opinion that the eye problem was due to trauma rather than infection and that Kiss had knocked or rubbed her eye in the trailer when she was brought over to us. She’s had a 10-day course of treatment…eye cream and anti-inflammatory jabs as her udder was also causing me some concern. She had just been weaned from her 2021 lamb immediately before coming to the Sanctuary.

I’m pleased to report that all is now well. Both Kiss and Kohl have put on weight and are looking healthy and well. They are sweet, friendly girls, and I am so happy to have been able to offer both of them a forever home. My vet thought they were gorgeous, immediately commenting on what wonderful curly fleeces they had!!

July also saw a bit of drama with Donald. I found him in the field in the morning with his front legs covered in blood. He was reluctant to get up. I honestly thought he’d broken a leg. Once I did get him up, I could see his legs were fine; he was pumping blood out from a wound on his belly. I quickly got him and Denis down to their shed where I could see Donald had what was basically a sore patch on his belly from where he’d been lying down so much in the hot weather. The problem was he’d rubbed through to a blood vessel and I had to actually tourniquet him round his middle to stop the bleeding. A few days of TLC and soothing cream soon sorted him out.

August sadly saw me saying goodbye to my beloved little Fern. She was 16 years old and very frail. I don’t really know how she got through last winter. She was tough, independent and very determined. Eventually though, old age caught up with her and she told me she was tired and her legs just didn’t want to go any further. RIP my little Fern. You will never be forgotten.

Lately, I’ve been tidying and clearing space in the sheds for the new season haylage and straw to see us through the winter. The first delivery of haylage bales will be coming at the end of August. I have ordered 120 bales and 30 arrive each weekend for a month. I’m just waiting for a call from my straw merchant to say the straw is in stock, and I’ll be off with the trailer to collect a couple of loads.

There is a definite Autumnal feel in the air. Misty mornings down in the valley, heavy dew on the grass, cobwebs on the hedges heavy with dew, red berries on the trees and blackberries and sloes aplenty. After the July heatwave, August has been a bit of a washout, but I’m hopeful of an Indian summer.

Thank you all for your continued support for the Sanctuary. I couldn’t care for these lovely sheep the way I do without your help, whether it be by donation, sponsorship, wishlist gifts, purchasing fleeces or joining easy fundraising to raise free donations when you shop online. I really appreciate all you do to help the flock and me.

Keep safe and well my friends.

Much love,
Caroline & The Baa’s xxx