The Woolly Patchwork Sheep Sanctuary

Welcome to the latest Bleatings

Well, we’ve survived the Winter so far with everything it’s thrown at us. We’ve had plenty of rain, been snowed in for over a week on a couple of occasions, had lovely dry, cold sunny days and dull damp days and of course endless mud. No matter what you do to try and combat mud, there’s always plenty of it in the Winter!!!

But, we’re still here along with all the seasonal aches and pains, sheep and human alike!

December saw the main young flock come in at nights for respite from the weather and some tasty haylage to munch on through the night. The haylage we purchased from the new supplier in North Wales has been absolutely superb and the animals have loved it so we’ll be back there again for more next autumn.

Something I hadn’t planned for was having to have the two youngest ewes, Smout and Ellie penned at night. They should really be running loose in the barn with the main flock but Ellie had other ideas! She has an absolutely humungous fleece and twice she’s toppled over onto her back in the daytime and was lucky that I found her still alive as she is unable to right herself particularly if it’s a wet day and she is heavy with a wet fleece. I was really afraid I’d loose her if she went on her back overnight so took the decision to pen her and Smout and let them run with some of the older girls in the daytime where they are monitored closely. In actual fact it’s been a good move as they were both still quite feral in some ways, particularly Smout who’s always been scatty. Ellie soon succumbed to the delights of a biscuit and it wasn’t long before Smout followed suit. I now have two delightfully friendly girls, happy to be in my company. On the downside, they’re always under my feet looking for biscuits!!!

They will remain under closer supervision with the older girls until they’ve been sheared in June and the risk of getting stuck is lessened.

We were snowed in for over a week in December. It doesn’t really present much of a problem as I am fully stocked with haylage, bedding and feed blocks. If snow is forecast I make sure we also have ample bagged feed in stock.

The main issue is having extra work with carting hay out to the fields for the sheep in the daytime and with temperatures down to –11*c overnight the outside water taps all froze so we were having to cart water from the house down to the sheds. It’s surprising just how much water animals drink when you can’t just fill the bucket from the shed tap!

Just as the snow started to melt I raked all the spoilt hay up from the fields and put it onto the muck heap. You always get some waste due to the sheep sitting on it etc. I don’t like mess on the fields and if left it suppresses grass growth in the spring and encourages weeds, so I had a good workout clearing it all up. My back wasn’t too impressed by it all though!

Eventually the big freeze broke a week before Christmas but we then had freezing rain and bitter winds. Where the snow had started to melt and then re frozen overnight, the yards and pathways turned into a skating rink. Once all the snow vanished the rain really kicked in big time but at least it was a bit milder.

Through December we had fun on social media with our Christmas Quiz, a mixture of sheep and general knowledge questions, expertly compiled by my lovely friends Linda and Martyn.

Our winners were Tanya on Facebook, Eva on Instagram and Jill on Twitter, who each won a year’s adoption of a sheep of their choice.

Christmas was a pretty damp affair – rain, rain and more rain and mud season was well and truly back with a vengeance.

The rain continued into January and the fields were flooded.

Mid January we had a second snowfall and were marooned for another week. The joys of living at 1000ft above sea level!! Things dried up after that but it remained bitterly cold. The sheep love dry cold weather, it’s the constant rain that gets them down, particularly the old girls. I was very worried about Coco and Bramble our two eldest, as to how they would fare through the Winter. I still am concerned but so far they’ve managed and coped well. I know they’re both on borrowed time, their mobility is compromised with their arthritis, but with daily anti-inflammatory and pain killers, they are happy old girls and show no signs of giving in at any time in the near future. In my heart of hearts I know neither will go through another Winter, but if they can finish their days with some sun on their backs I will be happy. I also know from experience that things can change overnight with these old girls, so I do very much take it from day to day with them.

Winter is a time of routine at the Sanctuary. At first light all the sheep will be turned out to graze. Depending on the weather, the old girls will either sit in the daytime shed on the paddock if it’s wet and then come back into their straw beds or they’ll stay out and graze if it’s dry. The younger girls in the main shed always have the door left open at night so they can choose to be in or out once they’ve eaten their haylage. They have a lovely cosy straw bed so mostly they stay in until I shoo them out in the morning. They generally stay out grazing all day even if it’s wet. They have a lot of shelter from the hedgerows, so don’t seem to mind being out. The Boys also have the choice to be in or out in their yard at night. Denis will always be found snuggled into his straw bed but Donald will often sit out in the yard on the grass overnight, unless it’s raining and then he’ll take himself indoors. Once they’re all out, I clean out all the beds and set them nice and clean for the evening. Hayracks will be filled and water buckets refreshed and muck trailer emptied. All this takes until early afternoon to complete and then it’s time for me to have some lunch. Depending on the light, I’ll be back down to the sheds to feed at anywhere from 3.30 pm when the days are short to 6 – 7 as the light returns and the days lengthen out. It’s then a bit of supper for me and back down to the sheds at 9 pm to do night time checks. If all is well, I then finish for the day. If there’s anything I’m not happy with, I’ll be checking at regular intervals throughout the night.

Towards the latter part of March, the younger ones will be turned out 24/7. Hopefully the grass will be starting to come through a bit by then.

We recently had some tree work done on some sycamores that had grown rather huge on the bank in the Boy’s yard and also some between the sheds. Although they were sound and healthy I was worried they could come over the sheds or house if they ever blew down in a storm. They’ve been topped to a manageable height and are now well away from buildings should they topple. It’s left a lot of clearing up to do and there will be plenty of wood to be chopped and stored. As I have 2 woodburners in the house it will all get used!!!

A big thank you to all who have so generously supported us with gifts from our Amazon wishlist. This is such a massive help, particularly feed items in the winter months when there are so many hungry mouths to feed.

For some reason best know only to Amazon, they have stopped giving out gift list addresses to third party sellers, so many items which are chosen, which don’t come directly from the Amazon warehouse come up with a message “unable to send to a gift registry address”. If this happens with an item you have chosen, just add the Sanctuary address as the delivery address and it will over ride the problem. I have noted the Sanctuary address against each item on the wishlist to hopefully overcome the issue.

Thank you also to everyone who supports the Easyfundraising scheme. If you shop online and haven’t signed up, please do check it out, it costs nothing but raises a lot of money for the Sanctuary.

We have just had a quarterly payment of over £55 which is wonderful. If you happen to be booking a holiday or purchasing insurance etc. It can raise quite a considerable amount for the sanctuary. Even the smaller amounts from online shopping mount up.

Our Sponsor a Sheep scheme is a great gift idea if you are looking for an unusual present. A lovely unusual gift for Birthdays, special days etc. The present that lasts a whole year. Only £20 for the year. Full details can be found on our website.

We’re all looking forward to longer, warmer days when all the girls and boys can be out to grass full time. There will be plenty of work to look forward to with shed clearing and dagging pre shearing. It all comes round again remarkable quickly.

The snowdrops and crocus are in full flower here and the daffodils are in bud. Spring is just around the corner.

Thank you all for your continued support in helping me care for the flock. It is much valued and appreciated.

With much love

Caroline & The Baa’s