Bleatings from the Woolly Patchwork Sheep Sanctuary
Welcome to the latest edition of Bleatings and a big welcome to any new followers and supporters
This Winter has been dominated by rain and mud. It has been relentless. Day after day of rain and wind. The farm was reduced to mud and the fields were flooded at times.
The constant mud has been a misery for the sheep’s feet. We have a foot mat that can be used with a zinc foot bathing solution and i placed this where the sheep could run over it each night as they came in for their haylage. Apart from the odd one or two that have needed looking at individually with a sore foot, we’ve managed quite well to keep the sheep all sound. They’ve all had muddy legs though and have looked quite fed up with it all from time to time.
Our horse Georgie has also suffered with her feet due to the muddy conditions, throwing two abscesses, the first in November and then another over Christmas/New Year. She had to spend time stabled whilst the abscesses drained and healed. I don’t think she was too bothered as the weather was so awful. She had a poultice applied on a daily basis until all the pus was out of each foot and she was sound again.
After prolonged stable rest she was quite stiff, so i booked a session with an Equine Chiropractor for her. She thoroughly enjoyed that and it certainly loosened her up.
December saw our Christmas Quiz running across our social media pages with fierce competition to find the correct answers to the general knowledge and sheep breed questions. The winners each received a 12 month sponsorship of a sheep of their choice.
The old, frail sheep and those that think they are delicate come in at night to straw beds around October/November time, depending on the weather. The younger flock tend to stay out until December, then they too come in at nights to a straw bed and racks full of tasty haylage. The young ones have the option to go back out to the field should they wish but mostly they will bed down inside for the night, especially if it’s wet and windy outside.
Very sadly the start of the year saw us having to say a goodbye to our beautiful Scamp. Although she was relatively young at just under 11 years old, she had been suffering with arthritis in a front leg and this suddenly ramped up and caused her knee joint to completely collapse. It was so very sad as she had been managing well on her arthritis meds that our Vet had prescribed for her and she was in amazing condition. Arthritis in sheep is a very common condition unfortunately which we’ve experienced many times over the years. Scamp had come to the Sanctuary as a tiny day old lamb in April 2013. We have many happy memories of her antics over the years, she was a scamp indeed! Sadly gone and very much missed but never forgotten.
The middle of January saw the flock have their mid Winter fluke dose. Fluke is a parasite that affects the liver and is passed to the sheep by a mud snail which lives in damp habitats and acts as an intermediate host. We have to be very aware of fluke on the farm as we have several damp, rushy areas in certain fields and also with it having been such a wet Winter, the “fluke “forecast” was high for our area.
A massive thank you to everyone who so generously supported the flock with gifts from our Amazon wishlist before and after Christmas. Thanks to you the flock had enough small mineral lick blocks for each individual pen for the olds and delicates and a large amount of sheep feed that has really helped lessen the burden of having to purchase so much through the Winter months.
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/registry/wishlist/20FEIF88VWC3B
The easyfundraising scheme is also a great way to earn “free” money for the Sanctuary each time you shop online with participating retailers. To date this scheme has raised over £700 for the Sanctuary. If you haven’t already signed up, please consider doing so. It is totally free to use.
www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/thewoollypatchworksheepsanctuary/?utm_campaign=raise-more
Our Sponsor a Sheep scheme is an unusual and popular gift idea for birthdays, special days such as Mother’s Day etc. or a nice treat for yourself. The sponsorship is £20 for 12 months and helps to provide towards the day to day care of your chosen sheep. Full details can be found on our website.
www.woollypatchworksheepsanctuary.uk
There are daily signs now that Spring is just around the corner. The snowdrops are out and daffodils and primroses are poking through. We can but hope that better weather is on the way and the girls and boys can look forward to going out to some tasty Spring grass.
Thank you all for your continued support of my Sanctuary flock. I could not support these wonderful animals without your generous help and i value and appreciate all that you do for us.
Much love,
Caroline & The Baa’s xxx
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