The Woolly Patchwork Sheep Sanctuary

Welcome to the latest edition of Bleatings

August ended with our poor horse Georgie suffering with a bad foot abscess. She has age related Cushings disease and this leaves her incredibly prone to foot issues. The hard ground through the Summer drought didn’t help her. A week of poulticing soon sorted the problem and thanks to vetwrap bandages and duct tape she was able to stay out in the field throughout. Sadly our old girl is starting to show her age.

On the 1st September, we gave a home to a little dog called Pickle. She is around 2 years old and is a smooth haired fox terrier. She was advertised on a social media site cheap to a new home and something about the ad just told us we should offer her a place at the Sanctuary. Her owners were not at all forthcoming with any information about her, only that they had a new baby and the dog was basically in the way. We were told she was microchipped, vaccinated, flead and wormed but they were unable to provide any records of this. Pickle was booked into our Vets for a full health check the day after arriving with us. Despite scanning her whole body, no microchip was found and we strongly suspected she’d not had any vaccinations or health treatments at all. So it was the works…microchip, first vaccination, worm tablet and spot on for fleas. She returned to the vet at the beginning of October for her follow up vaccination. Our vet said she was in good health overall and was a young dog, but obviously we can’t confirm her exact age, so we’ll go along with her being around 2 years old as her previous owner advised. She hadn’t had any training, including house training. I think she’d had a pretty miserable existence considering she’s such a full of beans, active dog. She was very nervous of men to start with suggesting she’d had some rough treatment but she is overcoming that fear now. She really is a sweet dog who just wants to please. She is in heaven running around the field sniffing all the smells of rabbits, foxes etc. Obviously she’s not trained to be used to sheep and that will take some time to accomplish both on Pickles part and also the sheep as they are not used to a dog being around. For now they are all being kept well apart, just seeing one another through the fence or gate with Pickle firmly on her lead.

It was a pleasure to welcome Tracey and Phil back to the Sanctuary at the end of September, especially as they came with biccits!! Fortunately the sun put in an appearance and a pleasant afternoon was spent with the sheep.

October started with the first of the Autumn storms. A weekend of gales and rain but thankfully no damage.

Once the weather turns, it’s time for the senior sheep to come in at nights. They have deep straw beds, a good trough of food and plenty of hay. Some have individual pens as they have specific needs or they are slow feeders so it’s easier to keep track of what’s going on with them.

A few days later the “delicates” came in at night time as well.

The younger flock will stay out until December hopefully so long as the weather remains reasonable.

Due to the drought conditions this Summer, hay and straw are in short supply and terribly expensive. Fortunately we had two good loads of straw back in August which will see us through the Winter for bedding and our haylage has been ordered to see us through until next March. Normally we haul 3 trailer loads of haylage in prior to the Winter but our supplier is able to deliver in smaller batches this year which will suit us better. The first load will be arriving at the beginning of December ready for the bulk of the sheep coming in for overnight feeds. We still have a few bales left from last season which we are feeding to the sheep that are currently in overnight.

Darling Poppett, our little brain damaged ewe gave me an awful fright early in November. I was bringing the sheep in for the night and she suddenly threw herself on the ground and had a full blown fit. I ran to her and held her and i can honestly say i thought she was going to die in my arms. It was terribly scary. After what seemed an age but was probably only 30 seconds, she came out of it, got up, marched to the shed demanding her supper and fortunately hasn’t suffered any ill effects or had any further fitting episodes. Because of her “issues” and the fact she’s nearly 13 i am keeping a very close watch over her and she has her own pen at night so it’s easier to monitor her.

Heartbreakingly we said a very sad goodbye to our beloved Donald on 12th November. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer around 3 years ago and tests at the time showed it had quite likely already spread to other areas. As he was a senior gentleman already suffering with arthritis in a front leg, we took the decision to let him live life in peace for as long as he could. He was not a sheep that accepted any sort of intervention in his life. He was very much a Mum’s boy but absolutely hated everyone else. He was never castrated as a young ram as he had problems with his blood clotting and my vet was afraid we’d loose him if castration was attempted. We had problems years ago stemming blood flow when the vet cut back his ingrowing horns despite cauterizing. Things progressed very slowly until this Summer when i started to notice a change in him. The testicle was growing and he was losing weight. I knew then my time left with him was limited.

Donald was born here at the Sanctuary in March 2015. Once weaned, he spend his life in the company of Denis. They became inseparable friends and the most comical double act, the Laurel and Hardy of sheep! I’m certain that the loss of Denis last December had a big impact on Donald’s health. He grieved badly and i know his heart was broken. Although he loved Georgie the horse and had the pleasure of her company this year, nothing could replace his beloved Denis.

I delivered Donald into the World and held him as he left it. His eyes had lost their sparkle and he was refusing food and didn’t want to venture outside to graze. He spent his last day resting quietly indoors, looking tired and weary. He told me clearly it was his time and he wanted to be reunited with his lifelong bestie Denis and i respected his wishes. The call to the vet was made.

Donald has been individually cremated by Dyfi Pet Cremations who handled him with the utmost compassionate care. Denis and Donald’s ashes will now be buried together under their favourite tree.

Run free my old lad, reunited with your best mate for eternity. The end of an Era.

The three Ouessants who arrived at the beginning of August have settled in extremely well. They are a delightful little trio that have brought much joy to the Sanctuary family. They’re extremely cheeky and will do anything for a rich tea biccit!!

Our thoughts will no doubt soon turn to Christmas. Another year seems to have flown by!

Please consider sheep adoptions as gifts. They are only £20 for 12 months and the recipient will receive a personalised adoption certificate, the story of their sheep along with photographs and quarterly newsletters and the opportunity to visit the Sanctuary. There are 20 lovely sheep looking for new friends on our adoption page.

If anyone is in a position to purchase a gift for the sheep for Christmas, they would be incredibly grateful, particularly any bagged feed, salt licks, turmeraid or biccits from our Amazon wishlist.

If you are Christmas shopping online, remember we are signed up to easyfundraising. It’s a great way to raise funds whilst online shopping. We’ve just received our latest payment of £35.08. It’s free to use and is a big bonus for the Sanctuary. Any online shop with participating retailers will raise money for us whether it’s your grocery shop, insurance, a holiday, clothes, gifts etc. The sign up link is below and it would be great to have some more supporters.

The evenings have drawn in and day by day the year slowly comes to a close. For us here, it is our busiest time of the year with the sheep in at nights and our days spent mucking out pens, re bedding up and feeding. It’s been a mixed year with new arrivals and heartbreaking loss. We move onwards wondering what challenges and joys the new year will bring.

Thank you all for your continued support of the Sanctuary. It means so much to me to have your support and to know that people care about these wonderful animals as much as i do and i really appreciate all that you do in helping me care for the flock.

With much love

Caroline & The Baa’s