The Woolly Patchwork Sheep Sanctuary

Bleatings from The Woolly Patchwork Sheep Sanctuary

Welcome to the latest edition of Bleatings.

March came in like a lamb, mild sunny days and we all thought Spring was just around the corner. How wrong we were!

Wham, our third snowfall of the year and back to being bitterly cold. It wasn’t a lot of snow and after four days it had vanished but we were then treated to a deluge of rain, day in, day out and suddenly found ourselves under water in the fields. I suppose we’d been lucky really, February had been mild and dry, we were lulled into a false sense of Winter being behind us. March apparently was the wettest on record since 1981!!

February saw the sheep have their Winter fluke dose and in March they all had their annual clostridial vaccination.

At the beginning of March I rescued two new residents! I know I said I was having to close the door to new sheep rescues but this rescue was two little guinea pigs…..Alan and Elvis. They were 10 months old and had sadly been passed from home to home in their short lives. They were being given away free on a local facebook swapshop and I really felt I should offer them their forever home before they fell into yet another wrong environment. They were very shy and nervous when I first had them and quite small and bony, but they quickly learned who fed them and sat chatting to them and they grew in confidence daily. Alan (the white boy) is a character, he was more confident than Elvis and quite affectionate. He chatters away to me all the time I’m in the office, where they have their run. Elvis (the brown boy) is bigger than Alan and more dominant. He wasn’t so keen on fuss at the beginning, but we take a little time each day to have a cuddle and he is slowly becoming more affectionate and used to being handled. Neither are castrated but they are bonded and have worked out their heirarchy and seem very happy to live together.

Now the weather is warmer, they have an outdoor run so can go out on the grass all day which they love. Bless them, they’d never been out on grass before coming here.

Towards the end of March, the younger flock started to tell me they wanted to be out 24/7. Once the grass starts to grow and sweeten up they go off their hay and rather than sleep in the shed overnight, often have a nibble of hay as it’s there and then wander back out for the night, unless of course the weather is horrendous and then they’ll choose to stay in. So off they went up to Cae Gwair which had been rested all Winter and was lovely and fresh for them. Even if it is a bit wet they don’t mind as it’s much milder and they have plenty of natural shelter from the trees and hedges all around the field.

The olds and delicates stay in at night much longer though. They will be out in the day but come into their straw beds for hay and feed until the weather has really settled.

When we had the snow in March, little Belle collapsed. She had been getting thinner and more frail throughout the Winter months, eating less and less, despite best efforts of offering warm, soft soaked feeds. I thought it may be an issue with sharp teeth in the back of her mouth, but on inspection she had absolutely no teeth at all. As sheep age, they loose their front teeth but I’ve
never had one before that lost all their back teeth as well. I’ve no idea of her true age but from what I was told by her previous owner, I would have put her current age at close to 20. She was a very old lady. She eventually gave up eating all together apart from a nibble of grass and she collapsed again on 1st April. She was totally unresponsive from the moment she collapsed sadly. I laid her in her comfy straw pen with her beloved Bonnet alongside her (I believe Bonnet was her daughter) and she passed quietly in her sleep early the following morning.

She was the sweetest little ewe you could ever wish to meet and I miss her greatly. She had the dearest little begging for a biccit face which you just could not resist. I rescued her along with Bonnet and Blue in April 2018. They were destined to go to slaughter as end of life breeding ewes. Belle was a teeny little thing, the smallest ewe we’ve ever had here. I wasn’t told Bonnet was her daughter, but having observed their close bond over the 5 years they were together here, it was very much a mother/daughter type bond. Bonnet was of course deeply upset to loose Belle but
her flock friends took it upon themselves to help her through her grief. Sheep do grieve, but unlike humans they process what has happened and then quickly move on, they don’t dwell on things. They live very much in the moment.

Having an ageing flock, there’s always someone with an issue of some sort. Poor Donald has developed a big puffy knee. Like Denis he is getting age related arthritis and my vet thinks this is the cause of the swelling in the knee. He’s not in any pain or discomfort with it thankfully. Both of the boys have a small daily feed which includes Turmeraid (turmeric pellets). I’ve been advised to up the amount of turmeric offered and give a regular knee massage to help the swelling if he’ll allow, but he’s not too keen on that. If it starts to affect his mobility then he’ll go onto metacam as and when required which is a NSAID, anti inflammatory and pain killer.

Once the bulk of the flock are out to grass full time, the big Spring clear up starts. The sheds all have a full muck out. Once the big shed floor has fully dried, the race is set up in preparation for dagging, worm dosing and foot trims in May and then shearing in June.

After the deluge in March, April and May continued in the same wet theme. Everything seemed to be behind this year.

Dagging removes any urine or clag accumulated around tails during the Winter. It makes shearing day easier and quicker for our shearer. If the sheep are clean at the rear end it also takes away the worry of fly strike and maggots. I’m lucky that the sheep are always pretty clean, but I take great pride in seeing them tidily dagged out and looking clean and smart.

Due to the prolonged cold, wet weather the sheep are still lacking rise in their fleeces which
makes them tough and difficult to shear so I’m hoping the warmer weather will encourage the rise.

Middle of May and I still have 4 old girls in at nights.

Coco and Bramble our two eldest, who have severe arthritis and then there’s Nutmeg, Brambles twin sister, who is still very fit for her age and Limpy who at 10 years of age is feeling the effects of having started life with a broken leg.

Poppet has also joined the special needs group, she was brain damaged at birth and has lost condition through the Winter although she is in excellent health otherwise. Scamp is another addition to the group having developed arthritis in her shoulder. Then there’s Mali who has arthritic hips and Maggie her twin sister who is just beginning to show a bit of stiffness.

All the special needs group have a small feed every day to enable me to administer their turmeric pellets and no bute liquid supplement. Coco and Bramble also have oral metacam daily to ease their aches. I think Scamp, Limpy and Mali will be joining the metacam group by next winter.

Our next big event will of course be shearing day. I’m hoping this will be at the beginning of June, weather permitting.

Thank you as always to everyone for your continued support for the Sanctuary, whether it be by donations, Amazon wishlist gifts, sheep sponsorships or Easyfundraising.

As costs continue to rise, your ongoing support is so very much appreciated to help me care for the flock and give them the life they so deserve.

After the long old Winter, I’m now looking forward to the long, hot, hazy days of Summer.

Much love,
Caroline & The Baa’s xxx