The Woolly Patchwork Sheep Sanctuary

Bleatings from the Woolly Patchwork Sheep Sanctuary

Welcome to the latest edition of Bleatings

Dear old Denis gave us a massive scare in early May. He developed a respiratory infection which responded well to antibiotic treatment but following that he broke out in the most awful skin rash and facial swelling. His poor face swelled so much his eyes were practically closed and he developed horrible deep scabs on the top of his head where it was so sore. He was extremely miserable and totally went off his food. After the vet trying several different antibiotics and steroids, Denis finally responded to a course of penicillin. His face lost all it’s hair and he had to be covered in sudocrem for a couple of weeks to help the healing process. Gradually the swelling subsided and lovely clean pink skin returned. He regained his appetite but being an older boy he’d lost quite a bit of condition and it’s taking time to get him back to where he was weight wise. I don’t think these big old Texel boys were ever meant to get to 10 years old. His ageing arthritic joints are also a cause for concern but thankfully at the moment we are managing this with various supplements and prescription meds.

Alan, one of our little rescue guinea pigs developed a large abscess in his mouth in early June. A trip to the vets where he had a head x-ray under sedation showed that he had badly impacted molars. The only option available was to remove the teeth under anaesthetic, which for a guinea pig is major surgery and they don’t cope well under anaesthetic. Even after surgery his quality of life would not have been good as he would have to be syringe fed for the rest of his life. I was very doubtful that he would even survive surgery as he was extremely stressed and off colour after the sedation and x ray. After discussion with my vet it was decided the best course of action was a week of antibiotics to reduce the abscess and then pain relief until the abscess returned and then take the decision to let him go before he started to deteriorate. He enjoyed a further 3 weeks of pain free fun with his bestie Elvis before sadly the abscess returned, when he was peacefully put to sleep. He was a dear little chap and i do miss him.

Elvis noticeably grieved for his friend and became quiet and depressed. I gave him a temporary soft toy friend who he loved, which was so sweet but I knew i’d have to find him a new friend sooner rather than later. We had a day trip to Cardiff, to an exotic animal rescue where Elvis had a “speed date” with a lone boar called JJ. After the usual displays of male dominance, they seemed to settle and accept one another so we adopted JJ as a new buddy for Elvis. They have continued to develop their bond and enjoy life together.

Due to the continuing unsettled weather patterns our annual shearing took place over 2 days. The first group to be sheared were the greys/browns/blacks on 2nd June and then the whites were sheared on the 7th June. Both days were actually dry and pleasant but there were a couple of weeks afterwards where it was quite wet overnight so the sheep all had the run of the big shed for shelter if they felt they needed it. Surprisingly after shearing, sheep acclimatise within about 48 hours but as many of our flock are older i feel the need to give them extra protection for longer.

Limpy of course hung onto her fleece again this year! I sheared her bit by bit as the fleece gradually lifted away from the skin, it’s so thick and sticky with lanolin. Bless her, she never wants to part with her Winter woolies!!

All our 2024 fleeces have been sold via our facebook fleece page (link on the Donate page). This covered the cost of shearing and left a little spare to add to the Winter fund. Thank you to everyone who supported by purchasing a fleece. I love to see how the fleeces end up, some are spun into yarn for knitting, some felted into garments, some become rugs by either felting or weaving, they are used in a multitude of different ways. There are some very talented people out there working with our fleeces!!

A welcome break in the weather in July enabled us to start the field work. Some areas of the fields are quite wet as we have lots of springs on the farm and these areas are prone to growing rushes, so we cut them annually to stop them spreading and the sheep do enjoy to eat the fresh shoots as they grow again.

We’ve had grass galore this Summer due to all the rain. It’s certainly been a good growing year. A couple of years ago we had an early heatwave and the grass burnt off on the south facing slopes and we were worried we’d not have enough grass to see the flock through the Summer. Every year is different.

Mid July saw me step out of my comfort zone and give a talk to a local WI about the Sanctuary and how it started. The ladies made me very welcome and kindly donated gifts for the sheep including a bucket full of tasty rich tea biccits. Mr Darcy thought he might just sneak a whole packet all to himself!!!

Very sadly July saw the loss of our flock matriarch, our beloved old Bramble. She was our eldest girl and had been on palliative care throughout last Winter. She succumbed to quite bad arthritis three years ago and i’d not expected her to get through the last few Winters but she was a tough, determined old girl and with the help of vet prescribed pain relief and anti inflamatories she’s soldiered on amazingly well and enjoyed a good quality of life. This last Winter though, she started to loose a lot of condition and became periodically unstable on her legs and i knew it was just a matter of time. She loved to come into her deep straw bed each night and gobbled down a good feed. Each morning, i’d go down to the shed, quite expecting to find her gone in the night, but there she would be, bright eyed and ready to face the day. Until the morning when i found her curled in the straw and she had peacefully gone in her sleep. She retired here in 2015 along with her twin sister Nutmeg after being used for breeding. Nutmeg was very quiet for a couple of days after losing her sister, they shared an incredibly close bond and sheep are very sentient creatures. Fortunately the flock are close friends and they rallied around Nutmeg to support her. She has now taken on the mantle of “the oldest” in the flock at 14. She is in good strong health so i hope she’ll have a few years yet where she can continue to be her normal nutty self.

A lovely friend and supporter set up a gofund.me in August to help us raise funds towards the cost of buying in our Winter haylage and straw. Thanks to our amazing supporters, we raised £1000 which will almost cover the cost of the haylage. Funds from sponsorships and fleece sales will go towards the straw for bedding and other feed expenses. The haylage has been ordered and will be collected very soon and the straw will be collected at the beginning of September. I’m always relieved and happy once those are in the shed ready for Winter.

It’s certainly been a challenging Summer weatherwise. We have enjoyed good days but there’s been a lot of wet and sometimes very windy weather. I’m hoping for a pleasant Autumn. One thing is certain, living in Wales we’ll have plenty of rain throughout the Winter!!

We are 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 Amazon Wishlist the sheep would be incredibly grateful.

Costs seem to forever increase and our residents continue to age, needing extra care and meds. Any extra help in the form of donations, sponsorships, wishlist gifts or easyfundraising donations are always gratefully received.

We’re looking forward to a bit of unusual excitement this coming weekend as Rali Ceredigion will be passing the farm on one of the race stages! The rali is the UK’s round of the FIA European Rally Championship and attracts some of the Worlds top rally drivers! The sheep will be moved well away from the road where the cars will be racing so their peace is not disturbed. We’re usually such a quiet, out of the way little village, we’re not used to all the activity going on in preparation for the rally. It’s probably the most excitement the village has ever seen!!!!

The long range weather forecast seems to think that early September will bring us some pleasant weather. Let’s hope it’s correct. We could certainly do with a nice warm Autumn.

Thank you as always to all of you for your continued, unwavering support of the Sanctuary.

Much love,
Caroline & The Baa’s xxx