Denis

15/3/2014 – 18/12 2024

Denis came to the Sanctuary as a 4 day old lamb from a friends pedigree Texel flock. A twin, his brother was a huge lamb and i think Denis had been somewhat squashed up in the womb and consequently was born with very bandy, twisted legs. He was unable to follow his mother or feed from her at all, so his breeder asked me if i would consider taking him on to rear on the bottle, although he didn’t hold out much hope of him surviving.

Apart from his bandy knees, he also had contracted tendons and was unable to straighten his legs from the pastern down so was knuckling over all the time. I strapped and splinted his legs and he spent the first 6 weeks wearing splints. Being a Texel, his daily weight gain was quite considerable and my one worry was that he would grow too quickly for his legs to ever strengthen and support him. He had to live in the house during the time he wore splints as he was unable to walk in the straw pen with the other bottle lambs. The straw caught in the splints and he kept falling over. He had his splints changed every 4 days so they didn’t get too tight for him as he grew.

He loved living in the house. He became pretty much house trained and behaved like a little puppy. He would spend his days sitting in the boot room and his evenings in front of the woodburner. He often accompanied me on short trips around the farm or down to the lamb shed to gain strength. Eventually he strengthened up enough to have the splints off bit by bit each day and then finally left off altogether. His legs were perfect and really strong. As he was castrated by his breeder, i gave him the job of running with our old ram Pero as company. The following year he became a friend to Donald, a Welsh ram lamb and they lived together as an inseparable couple until the day Denis departed this world. Denis taught Donald everything he knew, good manners, how to be quiet and easy to handle. Donald looked to Denis for guidance in everything, always letting Denis lead the way.

After his first shearing in June 2015, I entered Denis’s fleece in the Royal Welsh Show Open Fleece Competition and he gained a 2nd prize in the Medium class.

Denis appeared on BBC Countryfile alongside Anita Rani in August 2015. Being such a huge character he was very cheeky during filming and caused Anita to retake her final scene 3 times (much to her annoyance!!) He could be very shy with people he didn’t know, but once introduced he was usually happy to spend time with you.

Around the age of 7 arthritis started to set in, particularly in his hips. On shearing day we sheared him standing up so as not to put any strain on his joints by sitting him on his bottom. He also had a haematoma in his left ear which gave him his unique one ear up, one ear down look. He never had the best of feet due to deformities in the shape of his hooves, but regular remedial trimming kept things in check. Denis was a big lad, 130kg in his prime. He shrank a little as he aged but still topped the scales at 100kg at 10 years old. If he was grazing on the lawn he would always come to the back door and ask to come in. He never forgot being a house sheep.

2024 was a difficult year for Denis. He suffered a respiratory infection in May followed by a severe skin reaction to something which caused him to lose all the hair on his face and head and then developing into deep scabs. It took a while to find the correct antibiotic to deal with this but eventually we did and then copious amounts of sudocrem restored him to his former handsome self. He lost a considerable amount of weight though and his lungs were always a little delicate after the infection.

He remained bright and happy through the Summer. At the beginning of October he developed a nasty abscess on his fetlock joint which took a while to drain and heal. At the end of October i saw a change in him and i knew my days with him were numbered. Despite the array of herbal and homeopathic supplements he took and his daily NSAID, he didn’t want to go far to graze, preferring the lawn to the field and he was sleeping a lot more. He still had a voracious appetite though.

He continued to potter about at his own pace until Tuesday 17th December when he stayed in his shed and refused his food.

He suddenly looked very tired and he told me loud and clear that it was time. I made the phone call that i’d been dreading.

Denis was peacefully put to sleep at 1.35pm on Wednesday 18th December with me and his beloved Donald by his side. He was individually cremated by Pets in Peace Ltd. in Maesteg and his ashes returned home on 3rd January.

All my sheep are special and loved but Denis was a very special sheep who got right under my skin and into my heart. We had an incredibly close bond, due to him having lived in the house for 10 weeks as a lamb. He knew and understood everything i said to him, talking back to me with his deep baa. He was a larger than life character. Whatever i was doing, he wanted to “help”….yes there’s help and there was Denis help!!! Everyone loved him for his antics. At Christmas he loved to dress up in the Santa hat or tinsel.

I have nearly 11 years of happy memories of this wonderful boy and i am incredibly grateful that i got to spend those years with him. He may be gone form my home but never from my heart, which shattered into a billion pieces when he took his last breath.

Run free my beloved Mr Chumps.