The Woolly Patchwork Sheep Sanctuary

Bleatings from The Woolly Patchwork Sheep Sanctuary

Welcome to the latest edition of Bleatings

The end of May saw our annual shearing day when the flock lost their heavy Winter fleeces and were then fresh, cool and clean for the Summer.

The day went well with Ned our regular shearer and help from Peter who was penning, Linda helping me with wrapping, Carol, Ned’s Mum helping to keep the yard and shearing/wrapping area clean and me wrapping and in charge of tea and snacks!

We were all done and dusted in about 3 hours, having a couple of tea and snack breaks in between. A nice relaxed morning of shearing and chat. The sheep were glad to be rid of all their heavy, itchy wool and skipped out the door to enjoy the fresh grass and warm sunshine.

There were some lovely fleeces and the majority of these have now been sold for spinning, felting etc.

Sadly June saw two departures of our elderly girls.

Matilda who had been thin and loosing weight all Winter, despite eating her head off had a stroke and sadly passed away before the vet could attend her, not that there was anything that could be done.

Three days later, our eldest girl Coco went off her rickety arthritic legs and told me it was time to let her go.

An absolutely awful week, to loose two in such a short space of time, it left me heartbroken and running on empty mentally. I know in the scheme of things it will happen but it’s never easy to cope with when it does. Gone but never forgotten.

No sooner than I’d picked myself up from that, at the beginning of July, Beauty developed what appeared to be a respiratory tract infection and was quite off colour for a week, giving me great worry. The vet prescribed antibiotics and anti inflammatories/pain killers for her. She obviously felt pretty down as she refused all food and I was extremely concerned for her welfare. Another vet visit and a blood test was taken and she was given a stronger antibiotic and a steroid to try and boost her up a bit and get her eating. Unfortunately the bloods revealed that there were major issues with Beauty’s liver and kidneys and it was suspected she had advanced cancer. The runny nose had just been a symptom of a very suppressed immune system. The steroid seemed to be stabilising her but sadly once the effects wore off after 4 days Beauty had a major health crash. My vet came out again and he could see that she was seriously retaining fluid and her circulation had pretty much shut down. Very sadly there was nothing that could be done to improve or save her life and she was quietly put to sleep with her head resting on my lap.

To lose the old girls is heartbreaking but to loose a big strong 8 year old ewe was extremely hard to accept and deal with. Beauty had been rescued 13 months previously from a less than perfect situation. She arrived with a serious wound from fly strike and the most awful foot rot. These issues were dealt with and she appeared to thrive in the short time she spent with us. Whether her previous life had any bearing on her health problems we’ll never know, maybe it was just one of those things. Sheep after all are just like humans in that some have long lives and some short.
Beauty was the sweetest ewe and has left a huge hole here. I miss her so much and feel a deep sadness that there was nothing that could be done to help her get better.

We’ve been busy with the annual field work, topping the rushes that grow in the damp areas of the fields, allowing the ground to dry out and the fresh grass to come through. With aggressive topping every year, the rushes are getting thinner, not covering so much of the ground.

The latter part of May and first half of June were extremely hot and dry. The grass wasn’t growing and the south facing parts of the fields were burning. We were all wishing for rain. Be careful what you wish for they say……Well I don’t think it’s stopped raining since the middle of June. I can quite honestly say we didn’t have a single day in July where we didn’t have rain at some point during the day. It felt like Summer had gone and Autumn had arrived early. The only good thing was the grass grew!! August came in roaring as well, Storm Antoni brought heavy rain and strong winds.

The winter bedding has been purchased and is now stacked in the shed. Two large trailer loads of lovely straw that the sheep can snuggle down into in the colder months. I’ve been struggling with sciatica for months and stacking over 130 bales didn’t exactly help it…..another visit to the osteopath was required and as usual I was told to “rest” even though they know I won’t or can’t!!!

Large molassed Winter feed blocks have also been purchased ready for Winter supplementation.

The Winter haylage has been ordered and this will arrive around the end of September/early October.

If this awful weather keeps up I can see a lot of the sheep coming in early this Autumn.

The constant rain hasn’t helped the older sheep who are suffering with various stages of arthritis. Poor Limpy and Denis have taken a noticeable turn for the worst. Denis was born with deformities that although corrected, have impacted him in later life and Limpy broke a hind leg when she was 3 days old and that has now succumbed to quite bad arthritis. Both are on daily oral metacam, which is a non steroidal anti inflammatory and pain killer. Dear old Bramble our eldest is still muddling along, another one on daily metacam. Denis wears leg magnets but Limpy won’t wear them, she fusses about them and goes off her food. Bramble’s legs are too thin for magnets, they keep slipping down. Scamp, one of our Welsh ewes also wears leg magnets as she has an arthritic shoulder.

Early August saw the arrival of three new boys – Edward, Mr. Darcy and Dillon. They are all Shetland sheep. They came from a dear friend who was struggling with health issues and felt unable to cope and care for them as she wanted. She rescued them from slaughter as lambs and they have spent their lives in her private sanctuary until now. They are 7 years old and all castrated. Once out of quarantine they mixed with a small group of the girls as they have not been used to being part of a big flock. They will integrate fully over time.

They will not be running with Donald and Denis as those two are a very tightly bonded pair and I don’t think Donald would accept anyone else into the group. Shetland sheep come in a variety of wonderful colours, each colour having a somewhat spectacular name. Edward’s colouring is called Katmoget, Mr Darcy is Smirslet and Dillon Grey Skimret.

Something exciting to look out for – we have a brand new professional website currently being developed. Look out for details of that once it goes live.

I’m sitting at the laptop with rain lashing down on the velux window…..Will it ever stop??? Maybe we’re in for a dry Winter?? Oh I forgot….I live in Wales!!!!

Thank you as always to you all for your ongoing support of the Sanctuary. It’s not easy and it’s certainly not cheap trying to run things these days. Costs are forever increasing and with many elderly residents needing extra care and vet meds, any extra help is very gratefully received whether it be via donations, sponsorships, Amazon wishlist gifts or Easyfundraising donations.

We’re still very much in need of smallholder blocks for the oldies individual pens in the Winter so if anyone would like to purchase a block from our wishlist we would be incredibly grateful.

Let’s hope for a warm, dry end to Summer and a pleasant Autumn. This year seems to be going by so quickly.

Much love,
Caroline & The Baa’s xxx