Fleecehaven Newsletter Spring 2015

Winter/Spring

On the 11th December, on the day that they were due to go to slaughter, five new arrivals joined the Fleecehaven flock. They had belonged to a hobby farmer who had used them for breeding for a number of years before deciding that he no longer wished to farm. The five were quickly adopted and named April, Hazel, Rosie, Simeon and Ellie by some of our sup- The small flock remained in the red barn area for a number of weeks until porters. they had completed their course of vaccinations. They were then given the freedom to mingle with the rest of the flock and began to explore the field. Since then, they have grown a little in confidence each day and we are continuing to slowly gain their trust and hope that as time progresses they will begin to tame down and realise that they do not need to be On arrival the five sheep were taken to fearful of all humans. our red barn where they had cosy shelter, a small paddock area and access to our lower fields. They were very nervous and extremely wary of human contact.

Once the five had settled, they were visited by our vet. Despite the fact that they had clearly been neglected and were laden with parasites, they appeared to be in reasonable health and our vet was generally pleased It took the group a while to decide to with their condition. That said, Ha- leave the red barn and move into the zel had a very deformed back leg large barn with the majority of our which was probably due to an un- flock, but once they made the move treated injury; unfortunately there is they never looked back and they are nothing that can now be done to cor- now very much part of the ‘gang’. rect this, but our vet feels that she is not suffering any discomfort.

Tucking in to some tasty coarse mix

Moments after arriving

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 ’

2014/2015

New Arrivals Making themselves at home

Volume 8 Issue 2

Inside this Issue: Newsbleat Gallery Newsbleat Continued Sadly Missed Fundraising Thank Ewe Vegan Life

2,3 4,5 6 7 7 8 8 Exploring the fields

One of the many hay and straw deliveries being unloaded by Emma whilst happy customers tuck in

The winter is a particularly difficult time for anyone who works outside and this is no exception for Emma and Anne at Fleecehaven. As a small, famPage 2

Henry helping Emma and Anne to replenish the straw in the main shed

December and the early part of this year proved to be extremely mild with few frosts and virtually no snow. Although good in many ways, the pay off was less appealing with frequent rain and endless mud. The rain meant that the sheep were often reluctant to go out into the fields. This resulted in a constant round of mucking out the stables and picking dung out of the bedding within the main shed. It also necessitated regular filling up of hay racks with the sheep sometimes munching their way through more than 10 bales of hay a day! As a consequence, both the emptying of our muck trailer and the delivery of hay and straw became a regular feature of life at Fleecehaven. In addition to the hay and straw brought in off the field at the end of last summer, in excess of 450 bales of hay and 250 bales of straw were delivered to Fleecehaven between the beginning of December and the end of March with each and every bale being unloaded by Emma.

Emma on another run to the muck trailer

Newsbleat

ily run charity the day-to-day caring of the flock falls squarely at their feet. Regardless of the weather or how they are feeling there is always mucking out to be done, sheep to be fed and general health and welfare tasks to be carried out.

Emma has been quite poorly over the winter, fighting a nasty viral infection, but not once has she complained or grumbled about an everincreasing work load - looking after the Fleecehaven flock really is a labour of love with a typical day starting around 6.30am and often not finishing until late into the evening.

As always, December sees the start of the main Fleecehaven flock having their grazing and hay intake supplemented with coarse mix. In preparation for this an initial delivery of a tonne of food arrived at the beginning of the month. Once again Emma had the chance to flex her ‘Popeye’ muscles as she assisted with unloading the delivery.

Getting ready for the winter feeding regime as one tonne of coarse mix is unloaded FL E E C E H A VE N N E W S

Newsbleat Continued The sheep certainly enjoyed tucking into their first meal of the winter - coarse mix and warm, soaked sugar beet shreds. They were quite excited for the first few days but they quickly remembered the routine and, after an initial rush out of the shed, they settled down to an orderly breakfast. Once finished, they politely waited for their friends to finish before, weather permitting, heading off into the fields for the day. The whole flock will now be fed once a day until the spring grass comes good and they take themselves off to graze in the morning rather than waiting for breakfast.

Breakfast time in an orderly fashion before heading out for the day

During the winter and early spring a number of the flock required veterinary treatment. Barney became lame and was diagnosed with arthritis.

He had a short course of steroid treatment and, for the time being, seems to be doing well. With an increasingly aged flock, arthritis is becoming a common ailment with Bramble also being diagnosed.

He didn’t respond particularly well to normal antiBarney inflammatory treatVO L U M E 8, IS SU E 2

ment so is now on steroids and he is once again enjoying pottering in the yard.

A number of the sheep, including Mindy and Breeze experienced chesty coughs and required antibiotic treatment. Romeo also experienced ongoing difficulties with his chest and has now been diagnosed with bronchitis for which he is receiving antibiotic and anti-inflammatory treatment.

His breathing remains a little ’raspy’ but he is doing well and seems to be enjoying life to the full. Unfortunately he has also had a reoccurrence of an abscess in his left foot, but thankfully it is all now fully healed. The wet and muddy weather has generally caused a number of foot problems over the winter with Emma and Anne constantly turning the sheep over, treating them for strip (a bacterial infection) and dealing with the occasional abscess. Sometimes an abscess has proved too deep or stubborn and required veterinary treatment and this was so for Ben who needed antibiotics and anti-inflammatory to help him recover from a particularly nasty abscess.

Tigger’s ongoing foot problem also required treatment in January when he became very lame. He suffers from abnormal hoof gr owt h which needs to be cut back periodically. The hoof is extremely hard Tigger (too hard for us to trim) and on this occasion it needed to be cut back quite vigorously, after which he required antibiotic treatment. However, he now seems much improved and, as always, we will continue to monitor the growth and call upon our vet as and when necessary.

Willaby Oak was also very poorly. We were concerned that he was losing condition but blood tests revealed nothing unusual. However, we wondered if he may have a dental problem as he did, at times, appear to have difficulty eating his coarse mix. He was taken into our veterinary hospital for further investigation and our vet identified a large back tooth that definitely needed to be removed.

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Winter and Early Spring Gallery Hope

Daisy & Mable

Lamborghini digging holes with Lily

Bramble waiting for treats

Afternoon tea on wheels

Late night hay delivery

The shetlands with Henry and Woody

Percy Page 4

Charlie busy munching

Blackie

Happy sheep!

FL E E C E H A VE N N E W S

Martha

Storm

Honey

Shaun

Snowdrop

Lamborghini with Henry

Woolly waiting to head out for the day having enjoyed breakfast

Early Spring Grazing

Tiptoes Flora leads the way VO L U M E 8, IS SU E 2

Morgan Page 5

Newsbleat Continued

Hugo

Hugo also required dental treatment and had a loose front tooth removed. He recovered very quickly and seemed none the worse for wear.

In February we were advised by our vet to change the way in which we currently drench the sheep for parasites. Increasingly resistance to drenches is becoming a problem across the country with many of the drenches becoming ineffective. In order to reduce the rate at which this resistance is developing, it is now recommended that monthly dung samples are taken and analysed in the ‘lab’ for any evidence of parasites or parasitic eggs. If evidence is found, the flock is drenched; if not, they are not treated. So far the Fleecehaven flock have not required drenching and, although collecting the dung samples is somewhat challenging, it is certainly preferable to drenching!

As Spring began to arrive two of our older girls began to show signs of arthritis. Both Gloria and Poppy were visited by our vet and given antiinflammatory treatment. They will now stay on a low level of pain relief to keep them feeling more Page 6

Poppy

comfortable as the aches and pain of old age start to catch up with them.

As Spring firmly established itself, Fleecehaven helped to release some-

thing other than sheep into the field.

Last winter one of our dogs, Daisy, found a young hedgehog in the fields. It was u nder wei ght and clearly wasn’t going to survive the winter by itself.

We took it to Hedgehog rescue Anni who runs North Devon Hedgehog Rescue and she successfully got her through the winter. The hedgehog was returned to Fleecehaven with another one of her rescues and, after walking the fields, identified a safe place to release both of the hedgehogs.

Their nest boxes were camouflaged with sticks and then the boxes were opened. Some food and water was left for them and the following day, when Anne inspected the boxes, both of the hedgehogs had gone. Initially there were obvious signs of them having returned to their boxes and hopefully now they have both found themselves somewhere safe to live.

Returning to the wild - our hedgehog and her friend

Willaby Oak

Unfortunately, Willaby reacted quite badly to the whole procedure and required a long period of nursing and after-care. However, I am pleased to report that he seems to have made a full recovery and is now eating well.

FL E E C E H A VE N N E W S

Sadly Missed

Billy, Aged 16

Bassett, Aged 20

Storm, Aged 12

Rebel, Aged 10

Brownie, Aged 21

Losing a member of the Fleecehaven flock is never easy and over the last few months we have lost some of our oldest and dearest residents.

The passing of each and every one of them has left a huge void and we miss them terribly. Despite our sadness, we take solace in knowing that each and every one of them enjoyed a long and happy life at Fleecehaven and that they felt the love and care that so few sheep ever experience. They are such beautiful, sentient beings and we feel honoured to have shared their lives with them.

Fundraising Even in the winter months we try to to see so many of our regular followers get out and about and raise much at both. It was also lovely to make needed funds for Fleecehaven. This some new friends and have the opporwinter and spring we have had stalls tunity to share the work of Fleeceat the Ilfracombe Harbour Lights haven with so many like-minded peoFayre, the Animal Aid ‘Christmas ple. We really are so appreciative of without Cruelty’ Fayre and the Brighyour support. ton VegFest. Unfortunately the IlfraHuge thanks must also go to Magpie combe event proved to be a complete who once again divided their takings waste of time with us not even cover- Brighton VegFest between a number of small charities, of ing our £6 pitch fee! However, the generosity which Fleecehaven was of Fleecehaven supporters who read our ‘tale of one.

We are eternally woe’ on Facebook did result in the day eventu- grateful for their continued ally being a success - thank you to everyone support and urge all of our who made much appreciated donations; we supporters to consider purreally were extremely grateful. chasing home wares from Both the Animal Aid and VegFest events their beautiful range: proved to be wonderful events and it was lovely www.magpieline.com VO L U M E 8, IS SU E 2

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Vegan Life Magazine

‘Promoting humane behaviour towards animals by providing care, protection, treatment and security’

We were absolutely delighted to be featured in the January/February edition of the Vegan Life Magazine. Although not 100% factually accurate (that’s journalistic licence for you) the feature gave a really good insight into the work of Fleecehaven and very much helped to raise our profile. We loved the title, ‘Someone to Watch Over Ewe’ as this truly sums up the spirit of Fleecehaven and Emma’s incredible dedication to the flock. Percy, Stevie, Woody and Lamoborghini all featured and there were some lovely pictures used to accompany the text. I would like to thank everyone who has supported Fleecehaven as a result of this feature. As a small, family run charity every penny raised really does make a huge difference to the flock and enables us to continue our valuable work.

Fleecehaven Howley Park East Buckland North Devon EX32 0TD 01598 760454 admin@fleecehaven.org.uk www.fleecehaven.org.uk Registered Charity No 1111004

Sorry!

Thank Ewe

Once again, I am incredibly sorry that this newsletter has run so late - there’s no excuse other than the pressures of maintaining the Fleecehaven admin alongside my day job of being the headteacher of a group of primary schools and bringing up my young son.

With the summer holiday just around the corner I promise that I will start to write the spring/summer newsletter within the next couple of weeks and that it will follow hot on the tail of this one.

I would like to say a big thank ewe to Debbs Elliman, Flora Fleming and Chris Sharp for making such beautiful jewellery and cards for us to sell at our Fundraising events. Their hand-made items are always extremely popular and we are incredibly grateful for their generosity and continued support.

Thank you also to Di Trinder, Helen Waterman and Debbie Rushton who are all undertaking fundraising events to raise funds for Fleecehaven. Debbie is holding a bake sale; Di is undertaking to abstain from alcohol for 100 days; and Helen is intending to walk both the London and Bristol ‘Shaun in the City’ trails. Thank you so much to you - your support is very much appreciated and we look forward to reporting on your events within our next newsletter. In the meantime, please keep an eye on our Facebook group for further information and up-dates.

“To my mind, I hold that the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man.” Mahatma Ghandi Page 8