The Woolly Patchwork Sheep Sanctuary

Welcome to the latest Bleatings

After the weather took a turn for the worst at the end of May, the unsettled weather continued until the middle of June. Shearing was delayed although i didn’t worry too much as the temperatures dipped and it felt cold.

In the middle of June it turned quite humid as well as wet. Big wet sheep fleeces make the sheep heavy and itchy and the risk of rolling over and getting cast on their backs increases. I found Smout on her back one morning when i went out, thankfully she hadn’t been stuck for too long. The humidity also increases the risk of fly strike although the sheep are all clean thanks to being dagged around their rear ends but they do get sweaty and this can attract flys even when they are clean.

Once the weather picked up, i was keen to get the flock sheared, but the weather was still quite unpredictable and each time the shearer wanted to come, it was wet and so we had to be patient which is not one of my strong points. I decided to start shearing the old girls myself. I often do a few of the oldies as i don’t like them rolled around too much, so shear them standing up which doesn’t hurt their arthritic joints. I ended up doing a quarter of the flock as it suddenly turned very hot and one or two seemed to be suffering in the heat before Ned our shearer arrived to finish the rest on 20th June. Shearing day was a scorcher, 33*c in the shed. It would be fair to say we all dripped a bit!! It was all over in a couple of hours and the sheep were very happy to be relieved of their heavy fleeces.

Typically, no sooner had we sheared than it turned damp again. Apart from a few scorching hot days, June ended up being a bit of a warm, humid washout. Early July saw a return to the heatwave and we enjoyed a predominantly settled period of weather.

Earlier in the year i’d discussed the threat of Bluetongue with my Vet. He thought at the time we were low risk of the virus. He phoned me in July to say that the situation had now changed with the easing of restrictions in England and strongly recommended that we now vaccinate. BTV3 vaccine was ordered and the flock were all vaccinated within the week.

Following shearing, i spent time sorting through the fleeces selecting what was suitable to sell. The flock are ageing and fleece quality does deteriorate with age, so quite a lot are no longer suitable to be sold for spinning or weaving. The poor quality fleeces are all sold to gardeners as mulch. The good quality fleeces are advertised on our Facebook sales page “Natural Raw Sheep Fleece”. Thanks to wonderful repeat customers and new supporters this year nearly all the fleeces have now been sold. A lot of our fleeces seem to be purchased to make into rugs. These are some of the amazing rugs that have been created by our talented supporters this year. I’m sure you’ll agree they are beautiful. The white rug on the right was made from Wilful Willows fleece and has been sold to raise money towards our Winter hay fund. This rug was very generously made and donated to the Sanctuary by Sharon of Rug and Spindle.

Field work was done once the ground dried up. All the rough, rushy areas have been cut back to allow the fresh grass to grow through.

We had another visit from our friend Ellie when she was back in Wales.

The outlook for our beloved Donald is not looking good i’m afraid say. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer about 2 years ago and it has progressed remarkable slowly. Sadly it is now beginning to take more of a hold and his slightly enlarged testicle is growing quite rapidly. He had a few off days in July but picked up again following a short course of antibiotics but i know in my heart of hearts, i’m now fighting against time as he’s also dropped a bit of weight. He’s spending the Summer grazing alongside Georgie the horse, they are good pals. How much longer Donald will be with us i really can’t say, but i know as i knew with Denis, the clock is ticking sadly.

The gorgeous July weather continued on into an August heatwave. Whilst the grass was dry, fortunately we had plenty for the sheep to eat.

Poppett continued to amuse us and keep us on our toes. This time she came into the feed room whilst i was preparing a feed for Georgie the horse. Somehow she managed to knock over a rake, get it caught in some string and then get her head over it and try and hang herself!! All she had to actually do was lift her head and step back, but this is Poppett we’re talking about so that wasn’t an option!!

On the 3rd August we welcomed three new sheep to the Sanctuary. Jean-Pierre, Oceane and Monique who are all Ouessant sheep, the smallest breed of sheep in the World! They have come from a much loved home but sadly their owner was imminently about to lose her rented grazing and was unable to source anywhere else to keep her sheep. As she doesn’t live too far away, we hope she’ll be able to visit them when she’s able. They are a very cute little trio, great fun, inquisitive, very cheeky and have settled in well.

With the weather being so dry, my straw merchant advised that due to a poor harvest, straw would likely be in short supply and quite expensive this year. He wasn’t sure if or when he would be getting this years straw in stock but he had a supply of last years straw available which was excellent quality and as we like to get the straw in around August time while it’s dry weather we stocked up with two trailer loads which are now stacked up in the shed ready for the Winter months when the sheep will be in at nights. Our winter haylage is also on order and that will be delivered later in the year.

As August draws to a close, there is a change in the weather and it’s feeling very Autumnal. Much as we need a drop of rain to freshen things up, i’m hoping the weather will grace us with a few more pleasant sunny days throughout September and beyond.

We’ve just received our latest payout from easyfundraising, a fantastic £63.05. Thank you to all who shop online and have signed up to easyfundraising to raise free cash for the Sanctuary. Please consider signing up if you haven’t already done so.

Thinking ahead to Winter, we are very much in need of smallholder blocks for the oldies individual pens, so if anyone would like to purchase a block from our wishlist we would be incredibly grateful. Thank you as always to all who support the Sanctuary with gifts from our Amazon wishlist.

With all the dry weather the trees are full of berries and fruit and everywhere is looking very colourful.

My heartfelt thanks to you all for your continuing support of the Sanctuary. Wishing you all a happy, warm and pleasant Autumn.

Much love

Caroline & The Baa’s xx