Skittles, Holly and Ivy

Fleecehaven N

ews

‘PROM

OTING HUM

AN BEHAVIOUR TOW

ARDS ANIM

ALS BY

PROVIDING CARE, PROTECTION, TREATM

ENT AND SECURITY’

Volume 5, Issue 3

Winter 2011/12 At the end of November we re-

ceived a phone call from a gentle-

man who had heard about Fleece-

haven whilst out playing skittles.

He had a pet sheep that he was no

longer able to keep as he and his

family were moving. He really

didn’t want to send her to market

and asked if Fleecehaven would

be willing to take her on. Of

course we agreed and just a few

days later went to visit her at her

home near North Molton. Plans

were made for her to join us at

Fleecehaven, but as the sheep

from Birmingham had only just

joined us we were rather tight for

space. However, we managed to

make some room in one of our

stables and on the 3rd December,

Skittles (as we had now called

her) made her short journey to

Fleecehaven.

Skittles very quickly settled into

her new quarters, but we were

concerned that she had never been

sheared and was sporting a very

thick and shaggy fleece, with quite

a lot of vegetation tangled up in it.

After taking advice from our vet

we decided that the best thing we

could do for her was to get her

sheared and, as she was being

housed during her quarantine pe-

riod, we could keep her under a

heat lamp. She clearly felt much

better once she was rid of her

fleece but she did keep looking

longingly out of her stable at the

other sheep milling around in the

yard. It was a pity that she had

not come with a companion. This

problem was quickly solved when,

on the 16th December, we found a

lamb wandering alone in a

neighbouring field. We brought

her in and were able to identify

her owner through her ear tag.

She had escaped from a small

flock of young lambs not far from

Fleecehaven. It was agreed that as

she had shown the initiative to

escape she should remain here,

together with a companion lamb

from her own flock. We intro-

duced them both to Skittles and

they bonded instantly. As it was

Christmas we decided to call them

Holly and Ivy. Now they are all

running freely with the Fleece-

haven flock and are always to-

gether, with Holly and Ivy obedi-

ently trotting around behind their

adoptive mum!

Lamb Rescue

Winterlude 2011/2012

Newsbleat

Sadly Missed

2,3

4,5

6,7,8

8

Inside this Issue:

Skittles shortly after she arrived

Skittles with Holly and Ivy

Page 2

Lamb Rescue

FLEECEHAVEN NEWS

On 15th January, Fleecehaven rescued fifteen

six month old lambs, all of whom were des-

tined for slaughter. They were in a pitiful condi-

tion, worm ridden and suffering from a variety

of ailments due to neglect. As with all new

sheep to Fleecehaven, they needed to go into

quarantine until they were fully vaccinated -

this is for their own protection, as well as insur-

ing the well-being of the existing flock. As the

sheep from Birmingham had now moved into

the big sheds with the rest of the flock, we

were able to set up the red barn as their base.

Our vet visited them the day after they arrived

and gave them all a thorough health-check.

As they were malnourished and in poor condi-

tion, they would need to be slowly built up over

a period of time. They were treated with antibi-

otics, wormer and multivitamins in the hope

that this would ward off a multitude of possible

problems. During their health-check, our vet

discovered that two of the boys were still entire

and would need to be castrated once they had

settled into their new life.

We set about feeding the lambs a small quantity

of lamb nuts twice daily, and it was not long

before they began to get used to this daily rou-

tine. Little by little their confidence in us began

to grow and we were able to get closer to them.

On the 24th January the boys, who had now

been named Buster and Brian, were taken to our

veterinary hospital to be castrated. The proce-

dure went well and they were kept in over-night

for observation. They returned home the fol-

lowing day and were housed in one of our sta-

bles close to the house where they were kept

quiet and warm whilst they recovered.

On the 27th January our vet visited again to

give the lambs their first vaccination. Whilst

out, he treated them all with antibiotics again,

as Precious, the smallest lamb, had a nasty eye

infection and we were concerned that it could

be contagious and spread amongst the rest of

the lambs. A week later Buster and Brian were

returned to the red barn where the rest of the

lambs were clearly very pleased to see them.

Buster

recovering

from his

operation

The lambs shortly after they arrived at

Fleecehaven

Mo

rgan

, n

amed

by K

err

y

Th

e g

rass

is

alw

ays

gre

ener

on

th

e o

ther

sid

e

of

the

fen

ce!

Brian

recuperat-

ing in the

garden

VOLUME 5, ISSUE 2 Page 3

Lamb Rescue continued

At the end of February the lambs were given

their second vaccination. A couple of days

later they were drenched again with a view to

them being released into the fields early in

March.

In just the few weeks that they have been at

Fleecehaven the lambs have already made

remarkable progress. They are beginning to

put on weight and their general demeanour is

much brighter. They have become remarka-

bly tame and are now starting to behave as

one would expect.

Some of them are still quite vulnerable and

will no doubt need a great deal of care in the

future, but rest assured that now they are at

Fleecehaven they will receive the care that

they truly deserve and will hopefully have

long and contented lives.

So far, ten of the lambs have been named

Cynthia, Morgan (adopted by Kerry), Pre-

cious, Buster, Brian, Hugo, Harvey, Hum-

phrey, Lou Lou, and Jasper. The remaining

five (one boy and four girls) are yet to be

named, so if you would like to suggest a

name, please let us know. All of the lambs

are available for adoption via our website.

Updates on their progress will be given on

our Facebook group, which can be found via:

http://www.facebook.com/groups/159943184

090426/

Cynthia, named after one of our benefactors

Tucking in to some tasty hay

Emma with some of the lambs enjoying the

early spring sunshine

Poor Lou Lou losing her fleece, probably due

to stress

Page 4

Winterlude 2011/2012

FLEECEHAVEN NEWS

Phillip enjoying tickles

from Emma

Sandy

waiting

expectantly

for a treat

Emma with

Annie

Charlie posing for the

camera

Bethany, Nathaniel and

Jenny visiting on New

Year’s Day

Sammy with the tale-tale

signs of molasses all over

his nose!

George - one of the

Bromsgrove Rovers

Alfie bleating as he heads

out for a day of grazing

VOLUME 5, ISSUE 2 Page 5

Bissy watching over Minty

as he saunters up the hill Willaby Oak tucking in to

his breakfast

William paus-

ing whilst

enjoying a dry

winter’s day

Murphy

being

watched by

Martha

Winter grazing in the dap-

pled shade

Woolly opening his Christ-

mas present from Dawn

Blackie enjoying some

solitude whilst nibbling on

the winter grass

Bassett scrunching around

in the winter leaves as she

heads into the Golden Field

Page 6 FLEECEHAVEN NEWS

Newsbleat Winter at Fleecehaven has seemed long and

hard. Although we have been blessed with

considerably less snow than last year it has

been incredibly wet and windy. The sheep

hate the rain and have barely left the comfort

of their sheds or stables. This has resulted in

a relentless round of mucking out. Thank-

fully toward the end of November we finally

took delivery of our dung trailer. Up until

now we have been borrowing a trailer whilst

waiting for a second-hand one to become

available, which could be done up. The new

trailer is deeper than the one we were bor-

rowing, which has reduced the number of

dung collections required. That said, in just

three months it was emptied six times be-

tween the beginning of November and the

end of February. Goodness only knows how

many bags of dung poor Emma has filled up,

taken down to the trailer and emptied out

during that time!

With the sheep being housed for much of the

winter their consumption of hay has inevita-

bly been greater than normal. In just three

months over 300 bales of hay were delivered.

All had to be unloaded from the trailer and

carefully stacked in either the hay loft above

the red barn or in the hay barn in the yard.

Yet more back breaking work for Emma,

made worse by knowing that each stored bale

of hay would shortly have to be moved again

to fill up hay racks - always done with a

smile though!

Just before Christmas our vet came out to

check over one or two sheep that we had mi-

nor concerns about. Skittles, Holly and Ivy

had their first vaccination; Bea, Gemma, Clo-

ver and Vashti all had antibiotics for chesty

coughs; and Shaun had antibiotics for an ear-

lier abscess on his cheek that was still a little

weepy. Unfortunately we had to call him out

again on Christmas Eve as we were con-

cerned about Noah. He was given antibiotics

and anti-inflammatory and seemed, for the

time being, to settle down.

Christmas Day at Fleecehaven is much like

any other. The sheep still need to be looked

after and there is little time to stop and par-

ticipate in the festivities of the season. How-

ever, as has now become traditional at Flee-

cehaven, this was the day that we started to

feed the entire flock on coarse mix. There

was much anticipation as the troughs were

filled with an even coating of the sticky, mo-

lasses coated mixture containing ingredients

such as wheat, barley, maize, soya, linseed,

peas, sugar beet and essential vitamins and

trace minerals. The mixture has to be care-

fully checked for any large lumps that could

cause choking, before the sheep are let out of

the sheds in a mad rush towards the troughs.

Some of the sheep are more prone to choke

than others and so they are kept

Continued on page 7

Emma emptying out yet more bags of dung into

the trailer

Emma starts to unload the latest delivery of hay

VOLUME 5, ISSUE 2 Page 7

Newsbleat Continued

back and fed separately in small groups

where they can be monitored more closely.

The sheep will continue to be fed now until

the spring grass contains sufficient goodness

to sustain them through the warmer months.

As the New Year got underway our vet paid

us another visit. He treated Noah again, who

was continuing to cause us concern. He felt

that his breathing difficulties were as a result

of an inflammation in the tracheae and with

on-going anti-inflammatory and antibiotics

he is currently stable. Shaun and Bea also

had antibiotics, whilst Sandy’s foot was ex-

amined. Over Christmas he had developed

an abscess that Emma had treated by trim-

ming and dressing every other day. Despite

this he still seemed to be a little lame but our

vet confirmed that the abscess appeared to

have subsided. However, just a week later the

abscess erupted again and needed to be

drained out by our vet. Thankfully after a

short course of antibiotics Sandy has made a

full recovery. Whilst out he also treated

Woolly who had become lame due to swell-

ing in his left hock. This is as a result of

arthritis following the dog attack that led to

Woolly being rehomed at Fleecehaven. The

swelling seems to have settled down again

and Woolly is back to his old self for the

time being.

Throughout February, Victoria gave us great

cause for concern. Initially she collapsed,

had a very high temperature and appeared to

be having a fit. We called our vet immedi-

ately and whilst he was with us she fitted

again. She was treated with antibiotics and

anti-inflammatories. He was unsure as to

what was causing the temperature and fitting

but took bloods to run a general profile.

Within an hour or so her temperature had

come down greatly and all we could do was

monitor her. Within a couple of days she

was back to normal and eating well. Her

blood results showed nothing untoward and

we thought that whatever was troubling her

had passed. However, a week later her tem-

perature shot up again and over the period of

a week our vet visited on a regular basis to

repeat the treatment she had earlier been

given. At the end of the week she suddenly

developed bloat and had to be tubed by our

vet to release the gases. Thankfully ever

since then she has made a full recovery and is

now very much back to her normal self, pot-

tering around the yard and constantly bleat-

ing for food and treats.

Toby was also poorly during February. Ini-

tially he was troubled by an abscess in his

foot, which was successfully treated. He

Christmas Day Lunch

Victoria fully recovered and enjoying a facial

‘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

Newsbleat Continued then developed a high temperature which was treated with

antibiotics and we are continuing to monitor him on a daily

basis.

Dumpling, Paddington

and Richard have also

been under the weather

with chesty coughs, but

all have made a full

recovery following

antibiotic treatment.

Bluey has managed to

keep himself out of

trouble over the winter

months. He did, how-

ever, have his blood

taken at the beginning

of January in order to

check his levels. Our

vet was pleased to re-

port that his levels had

increased significantly

since they were last

tested. On-going moni-

toring of him will be

required and his blood

will be retested in early

March.

Page 8 FLEECEHAVEN NEWS

The winter very sadly saw us lose one

of our greatest characters, Bea. She

died suddenly from a heart attack, but

we take great solace in the fact that she

was enjoying life to the full right up

until her final moments. Those of you

who met her will know what an abso-

lute star she was, always busying her-

self around the yard and making her

presence felt. Her passing has left a great

void in the hearts of all at Fleecehaven, in-

cluding her two boys, Richard and Phillip.

Sadly Missed

Bea

, A

ged

20

Du

mp

lin

g

Bluey pottering in the

winter sunshine