Fleecehaven Newsletter Winter 2015/2016

Volume 9 Issue 1

Granny’s Story In our last newsletter we introduced you to Granny and promised you her story, so here it is!!

The first year that Granny was at her new farm she produced triplets and the second year she had twins. However, the following winter she fell in the field and was unable to get up.

She was taken into shelter in the hopes that she would recover and miraculously she survived. In the spring she didn’t get scanned prior to lambing as she had been put in the wrong pen.

This was another stroke of luck for Granny because if she had been scanned she would have been marked ‘empty’ and sent to Granny arrived at slaughter.

Once the Fleecehaven on 17th May farmer realised that she 2015 – she is one very was not in lamb, he put lucky lady and has her in a field with Lucky to thank for her Lucky, together with life (see our previous his late lambers, whilst newsletter).

However, she awaited halal Lucky is not the first slaughter in time for stroke of luck that GranRamadan. Thankfully ny has experienced. for her, Lucky’s rescue Shortly after taking her became her salvation in we heard from the and she will now live farmers wife who had out the rest of her natuoffered her to us, how ral life at Fleecehaven, she’d acquired her. Apenjoying a well-earned parently her husband had retirement. When she bought her three years first arrived she was earlier from another incredibly thin but Granny a month later farmer who had identisince joining us she has fied her as being a cull gained weight and is ewe. Before this farmer sent his cull now in really good condition. She ewes to slaughter, her husband was remains a little wary of human contact given the chance of buying any that he but she and Lucky are a real team and thought might manage a few more never far away from one another. She years of lambing. It is well known really is our Lady Luck! that older ewes produce more lambs and are better Mums, but most farmers are not prepared to deal with the additional care that older ewes require, so ordinarily they are sent to slaughter around the age of six.

Fleecehaven News

‘ P R O M O T I N G H U M A N B E H A V I O U R T O W A R D S A N I M A L S B Y P R O V I D I N G C A R E , P R O T E C T I O N , T R E A T M E N T A N D S E C U R I T Y ’

Granny when she first joined us

Late Summer/ Autumn 2015

Inside this Issue: Late Summer ‘Spring’ Clean Newsbleat Gallery Newsbleat Dearly Missed Welcome Visitors Thank Ewe

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Granny and Lucky enjoying their new life

Late Summer ‘Spring’ Clean The summer proved to be a very wet one at Fleecehaven - there were few really hot and sunny days and the opportunity for rest-bite that we so look forward to in the summer was few and far between. As a result of the endless rain it was nearly the end of August before the big sheds were cleared out. This is a job that we like to do as soon as possible in the summer, taking advantage of the first settled period of warm and dry weather.

However, this year we waited and waited until eventually we had no alternative but to go ahead and get the job done, despite there being no real break in the rain.

Our local agricultural contractors moved in on the morning of the 20th August.

By this time the bedding in the main shed was over one metre deep!

It took them two days to completely clear the sheds with a skid steer loader breaking up the compacted bedding and loading it into a waiting tractor and trailer.

Emma did her upmost to ensure that the job was completed as quickly as possible, forking up the bedding into accessible piles as soon the bulk of the straw and shavings had been removed.

Eventually the last trailer load left the yard and the really hard work of preparing the new bedding began.

No sooner had the last trailer left East BuckPage 2

land, the pressure washer was running and the big clean-up was underway!

Once the shed was thoroughly cleaned it was time to start putting down the woodshavings - 135 bales of them!

Each and every bale was carried across the yard and into the shed by Emma and generally in dreadful weather conditions.

Each bale was then broken up by hand and evenly spread across the floor.

We were then awaiting a straw delivery as the inclement weather had wreaked havoc with the cutting of hay and straw too.

Fortunately it’s arrival was perfectly timed with 212 bales being delivered on 24th August.

Each and every bale was unloaded by Emma and then distributed evenly within the shed. Then started the long and dusty job of breaking down and plumping up each bale to ensure an even, soft continued on page 3

F L E E CE H A V E N N E W S

and absorbent bed for the sheep. It was backbreaking work for both Emma and Anne, made all that much harder by the on-going poor weather and the need to get the sheep back into the shed as quickly as possible. However, after over a week

of pretty much working around the clock the doors were finally opened and some very happy sheep returned to their luxurious quarters, snuffling around in the straw and nestling down into their cosy nests - a very rewarding sight to see.

Newsbleat The late summer, autumn and early winter has seen a number of our sheep requiring veterinary treatment. The on-going wet weather has resulted in several of the flock developing foot abscesses.

Shaun, Larry, LuLu, Tootsy, Sampson, Milly, Buster, Chutney and Sunny have all needed antibiotics to help clear up abscesses with Larry and Shaun requiring a second course to fully clear them of infection. Thankfully all are now completely recovered and we are hoping for some cold weather over the winter months to harden off the ground and rid us of the mud.

Kylie has caused us some concern in recent months. We noticed that she had started to stretch her head up after eating and prior to cudding. Towards the end of the summer she bloated for no apparent reason and appeared to have slight abdominal discomfort. Although she recovered quite quickly, our vet decided to scan her abdominal area. There was no sign of anything untoward and the cause of her discomfort remained a bit of a mystery. At the same time her bloods were taken to identify any underlying problem but nothing remarkable showed up. A few days later she bloated again and our vet wondered if there might be a mass of coarse mix or hay within her digestive tract that was inhibiting the normal function of her rumen. She inserted a stomach tube down her throat in the hopes that this would dislodge any obstruction, whilst also releasing any trapped gas within the rumen. This appeared to resolve the problem and we wondered, given the way she stretch her head up after feeding, whether she may have a narrowing of the oesophagus.

Following this, Emma decided to start grinding her food down and making it into a gruel, since when she has had no further episodes of bloat and has stopped lifting her head before cudding.

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The damp weather and colder evenings have caused a few problems for those members of our flock who are prone to chesty coughs. Woolly

Kylie stretching out her neck prior to treatment and now back to her normal self with the ‘tell-tale’ signs of molasses all over her face!

and Ronnie both found themselves needing antibiotic treatment and Romeo’s on-going bronchial problem has also required a regular antibiotic topup.

Dear Alfie has experienced another flare up of his on-going inflammation on the brisket. He managed to scratch off the scaly scab that covers this area and it began to bleed quite badly. Our vet prescribed a long course of antibiotics and steroids. For a period of time we were able to keep the area covered whilst it started to heal again.

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Fleecehaven Gallery Rustle - growing fast

Haylage Delivery

Hansel and Gretel in the hay barn

Emma crovecting - a regular job from spring through to autumn

Daisy and Lamborghini

Delilah and Skittles

Morgan

Stevie Page 4

Out and about with the lambs

Emma filling the hay racks

Sunny tucking into some tasty berries F L E E CE H A V E N N E W S

Eby

Blackie

Freddie

Leo

Gracie

Martha

Lucy

Humphrey

Rainbow over Fleecehaven

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Henry

Jessie

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Newsbleat Continued

Alfie in the garden

However it is not practical to keep this area covered long-term, so although considerably better now he is always going to be vulnerable and Alfie will, no doubt, continue to require regular treatment.

Thankfully it doesn’t appear to cause him any discomfort, nor is the area infected, so it is just a case of monitoring him carefully and aiding the healing

process the best we can.

Rosie, who joined Fleecehaven in December 2014, has periodically appeared to have a swelling on her right cheek and sometimes has experienced difficulties in managing her food. Suspecting a dental problem, our vet decided to investigate the swelling further and she was admitted to the veterinary hospital. Under sedation our vet discovered that she had a very long back tooth which food was becoming entangled around, which in turn was clearly causing the periodic bulging within her cheek. The length of the tooth would also have prevented her from being able to chew her food properly. The tooth was removed, she was put on a four week course of antibiotics and she now appears to be absolutely fine.

Finally, our big boy Murphy has also been poorly.

We noticed that his eyes were constantly watering which had triggered a little bit of an eye infection.

Our vet visited and initially prescribed antibiotic cream to be administered on a daily basis. A week later his eyes were still watering, although the infection appeared to be subsiding.

However, we were also worried that his lower eyelids appeared to be drooping and separating from the eye surface and our vet was concerned that Murphy would be prone to further infection because of his eyes not being properly protected by the eyelids. He Murphy tucking into some tasty hay has now had antibiotic Page 6

injections into the lower eyelids and he appears to be much improved. During this treatment Murphy was also diagnosed with the early stages of agerelated cataracts. It certainly doesn’t seem to bother him at all as he goes about his daily business of seeking tickles and treats!

The lambs that joined us earlier in the year continue to thrive and are a great team. They go off exploring each day as a little ‘gang’ and get into all sorts of mischief. Freddie is the only one who does not always join them as he has experienced a number of relapses with his joint-ill. In December he experienced a particularly bad flare up and our vet decided to x-ray his leg and also draw off some of the fluid within his knee joint. As we suspected, the x-ray showed the early on-set of arthritis caused by the joint-ill. He was put on a months course of antibiotics to try and eradicate the infection once and for all and only time will tell how he will manage with the arthritis. Gracie was our other really poorly lamb within the group and it’s truly amazing how well she’s done considering how close to death she was when she first arrived at Fleecehaven.

As Autumn took hold and the main shed had been thoroughly cleaned and restocked for the main flock, it was time to give all our stables their annual ‘deep’ clean. One stable at a time, Emma and Anne mucked out, pressure washed and repainted to ensure that our eldest and special needs residents can enjoy the very best in clean and comfortable luxury. Thankfully there was a break in the weather as this job was undertaken and some much needed sunshine helped everyone on their way. A large trailer was filled and emptied three times, with Emma filling each one by hand!

A further delivery of woodshavings was also required to replenish the stables, with Emma once again demonstrating her super-human strength as she unloaded the delivery van! She really is a remarkable young lady who makes so many personal sacrifices for the Fleecehaven flock; however, I know that she wouldn’t have it any other way.

F L E E CE H A V E N N E W S

Dearly Missed In our last newsletter we had so many new arrivals that that we wanted to share with you, that we were unable to pay tribute to those that we had very sadly had to say goodbye to. Since April of last year, we have inevitably lost some of our dearest friends. With the exception of Pickles and April, all of our lost ones had been with us since they were lambs and their passing has left a great

void at Fleecehaven; they were part of our family and we feel their loss deeply. Sadly this is the down side of what we do and we know that the time will come to say goodbye to each and every member of the flock. However, we gain strength from knowing that during their time with us they knew nothing but love and kindness and ended their days safe in that knowledge.

Molly, Aged 14

Snowdrop, Aged 11

Tigger, Aged 13

April, Age Unknown

Pickles, Aged 6

Star, Aged 14

Bramble, Aged 14

Thomas, Aged 17

Barney, Aged 14

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Welcome Visitors It is always lovely to welcome visitors to Fleecehaven and to show our supporters first-hand just what we do. Here are a few pictures of those who have visited us in recent months. My apologies to anyone that we have missed out - we don’t always have a camera to hand so one or two visitors escape the photo-shoot opportunity!

The sheep certainly enjoy all the extra treats and cuddles that they receive when we have visitors with some, such as Murphy, often being first in line! Thank you to everyone who has visited; your ongoing support means a great deal to us all.

‘Promoting humane behaviour towards animals by providing care, protection, treatment and security’ Fleecehaven Howley Park East Buckland North Devon EX32 0TD 01598 760454 admin@fleecehaven.org.uk www.fleecehaven.org.uk Registered Charity No 1111004

Thank Ewe Thank you to the University of Exeter Animal Welfare Society who held a cake and hot chocolate sale to raise funds for Fleecehaven.

Thank you also to Susie Daisley for organising the Barney Dog Charity Day which also raised funds for Fleecehaven and PACT. Finally, thank you to Caroline McDonagh who donated profits from the sale of her Christmas vegan candles (www.caroline-jane.co.uk).

As a small, family run charity every penny raised goes directly upon the care of our rescued flock - no salaries are paid or amenity charges made so every penny really does make a difference. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

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