Newsbleat

Fleecehaven News

‘PROM

OTING HUM

AN BEHAVIOUR TOW

ARDS ANIM

ALS BY

PROVIDING CARE, PROTECTION, TREATM

ENT AND SECURITY’

Volume 8 Issue 1

Summer/Autumn 2014

Firstly, my sincere apologies for this

newsletter being so late. There is

absolutely no excuse other than the

fact that all of the Fleecehaven admin

is carried out on a voluntary basis by

Jayne, who also has a demanding full

time job. Jayne obviously ensures that

the production of Adoption packs

takes priority, whilst the writing of the

newsletter gets squeezed into odd

available moments in between. The

advantage of this is that, unlike many

other charities, Fleecehaven still pays

absolutely no salaries; the disadvan-

tage is that sometimes the newsletter

runs rather late. Increasingly Anne,

Emma and Jayne are finding them-

selves under growing pressure - run-

ning a small, family run charity cer-

tainly isn’t for the feint hearted. For

Anne and Emma it is a 24 hour a day,

365 day of the year commitment - a

true labour of love.

Thankfully the good weather of early

summer continued throughout the

remainder of the summer and into the

autumn. It was lovely to see the sheep

in the fields enjoying a sustained pe-

riod of carefree grazing with the sun

warming their backs whilst a gentle

breeze kept them suitably cool. If

only we could guarantee a summer

like that every year! It would cer-

tainly make the cold, wet, dark win-

ters more bearable.

Throughout the summer, monthly

crovecting of the sheep continued to

ensure that the flock stayed free of fly-

stike; the last dose being administered

in September. Each time, Emma had

to initially round the flock up into our

race area in front of the red barn. She

then covered herself up in thick water-

proofs and donned the crovect

‘backpack’ before administering a

specific dose to each sheep in three

blue stripes, one along their back and

one along each flank. The monthly

round up also provided an excellent

opportunity to give the sheep a quick

check-over, trim any overgrown claws

and attend to any other minor needs.

Once completed, the sheep were re-

leased back into the fields sporting

their rather fetching blue rinses (see

gallery). Continued on Page 3

Annual Shed Clearing

Newsbleat

Summer/Autumn Gallery

Welcome to Fleecehaven

Fund Raising

2

3, 6, 8

4,5

6

8

Crovect time for Hugo and friends

Martha and friends grazing in the lower

fields

Precious, Pickle and Dougal shading them-

selves under the tree

Inside this Issue:

Page 2 FLEECEHAVEN NEWS

One of the main jobs of the summer is the annual emptying of the big shed. This is always a mammoth

task and starts with an eagerly awaited call from our local agricultural contractor. We never quite know

when this is going to be as their availability is dependent upon the weather. Their arrival with tractors,

trailers and a digger marked the start of a frantic week. It took a day for the contractors to empty the

shed - a skid steer loader was used to empty the contents into a trailer which was then taken off site to

be emptied. Numerous trips were made during the course of the day before eventually the shed was

empty.

The following day, Anne and Emma started the exhausting task of sweeping out, pressure washing and

disinfecting the shed. This is always a very noisy and mucky job but is vital to ensure that all the bacte-

ria, etc, is thoroughly removed before starting to replenish the shed with new bedding. Once the interior

of the shed was clean and dry, the next job was to repaint the lower section of the walls. As soon as the

paint had dried it was then time to start replenishing the sheds with wood shavings and straw. We had

already taken delivery of three pallets of wood shavings and a large trailer of straw in preparation for

this task.

Replenishing the sheds was a slow and painstaking task. Initially Emma equally distributed the wood

shaving bales around the shed before she and Anne started to put down a thick bed of absorbant wood

shavings. Although quite extravagant, experience has taught us that a nice thick bed of wood shavings

keeps the sheep dry under foot and smelling fresh from one shed clearance to the next. To have maxi-

mum effect, each bale had to be opened up and broken down by hand to ensure that any large lumps

were teased out. Once this was done, Emma then distributed straw bales around the shed before she

and Anne opened up, teased out and puffed up each of the bales to provide a thick, cosy bed of straw.

Thankfully the weather was on our side this year and although the sheep are always anxious to get back

into their shed as quickly as possible we were not having to rush as much as we have done in previous

years when the rain has been lashing down. However, the sheep were back into the first section of the

shed within just 5 days and the entire shed within just over a week - as always, they were clearly very

pleased with their clean, cosy and snugly bed and completely oblivious to the work that had gone into

preparing it for them!

Annual Shed Clearing

Page 3 VOLUME 8, ISSUE 1

A number of sheep required veterinary treatment

during the summer and autumn. Thomas was

poorly on and off for a number of weeks; initially

he had an upset tummy.

He responded well to

treatment and blood tests

showed nothing out of the

ordinary. However a few

weeks later he developed a

high temperature and

showed signs of being

anaemic. He had an inten-

sive course of antibiotics, vitamins and anti-

inflammatories and, thankfully, now appears to be

back to his old self. As one of our old boys he is a

little arthritic but an occasional steroid injection

helps him greatly and he very much enjoys potter-

ing around the yard and

making sure that he does-

n’t miss out on any treats.

Basset also has arthritis

and this appeared to be

troubling her a little during

the summer months. Fol-

lowing a visit by our vet,

she started on a course of

steroids which, for the

time being, she is respond-

ing to well and is once

again out and about and

enjoying life.

A number of sheep had abscesses that required

treatment. Shaun had one in his front left foot, as

did Tigger, Ned and Romeo. Poor Star had an

abscess on his cheek that needed to be lanced and

drained but thankfully this quickly healed.

Romeo, Ben, Muffin, Snowdrop, Charlie, Vashti,

Kyle and Phillip all suffered from coughs or runny

noses during the course of the summer or autumn

and required antibiotic treatment. Unfortunately,

Romeo has a more sustained chesty cough and is

requiring more regular treatment.

At the beginning of October, Tasha went into our

veterinary hospital to have a small biopsy on a

sore that had developed on her brisket area. It is

not dissimilar to the one that Alfie has, so our vet

thought it prudent to check it out. Fortunately the

biopsy showed that the sore was not malignant so

we can, hopefully, assume the same for Alfie.

Alfie’s sore does continue to require treatment

with occasional antibi-

otics, however, it does

finally appear to be on

the mend and in recent

weeks we have not

needed to keep it cov-

ered. We shall obvi-

ously keep a close eye

on it, but fingers

crossed that it is finally

healing.

Finally, as the autumn drew to a close, dear Henry

was also poorly. He de-

veloped a very upset

tummy that didn’t seem to

respond to anything. A

sample of his dung and

blood tests didn’t show up

anything remarkable and

all of a sudden it just

seemed to clear up.

Henry had experienced

quite a poorly tummy

when he was a lamb, so

our vet has linked this

episode back to the fact

that he had such a bad start in life and has some

long lasting gut damage that occasionaly flares up.

Let’s hope it’s a while before it happens again.

At the end of July the entire flock were vaccinated

with Heptivac P+. This is an annual vaccination

which protects the flock against pasteurella pneu-

monia and clostridial diseases - both can be big

killers of sheep. Nearly all sheep carry the pas-

teurella organisms on their tonsils and any form of

stress can trigger the on-

set of the disease. Clos-

tridial diseases can also

strike without warning.

The organisms responsi-

ble for these are wide-

spread in the soil. The

diseases are invariably

fatal and all sheep are at

risk so we always ensure

that the Fleecehaven flock

is fully vaccinated to

minimise the risk.

Continued on Page 6

Newsbleat Continued

Thomas

Bassett

Tasha coming home from

the vets

Henry now fully recov-

ered

Emma helping our vet

with the vaccinations

Page 4

Summer and Autumn Gallery

FLEECEHAVEN NEWS

Shaun

Bassett pottering in the

garden

Gloria taking it easy

Florence hoping for a treat

Hope in the ‘Golden Field’

Jody posing for a photo

Pretty Martha

Handsome Magic and Willaby Oak

Poppy taking the weight off her feet

Percy snuggled up in

the straw

Hugo striding it out

VOLUME 8, ISSUE 1 Page 5

Emma feeding

Thomas

Billy pottering in

the yard

Stormy skies

Alfie sporting his bandage

Precious in hot pursuit of Emma

carrying a bale of hay

Dominie grazing in the top fields

Eby enjoying the sunshine

Stevie resting in the big shed

Homeward bound

Heading off after a ‘blue rinse’

Joan

Page 6

Newsbleat Continued In the middle of

Au gu s t ou r

fleeces were

finally taken in

to the wool

board. Although

we had shorn

back in June we

had to wait for

n e a r l y t w o

months for an

available book-

ing slot to take

them in. Before

they could be

taken in, each

wool bag had to

sown up. As

always, our

neighbour then

very kindly

helped Emma

load the bags

into his trailer and, accompanied by Emma, took

them in for us. We really do hope that next year

we will be in a position to get at least some of our

wool mechanically spun and produce ‘vegan

friendly’ wool. Unfortunately circumstances just

precluded us from being able to do so this year.

Once Anne and Emma

had finished the ‘Big

Clean’ of the main

shed, much of the re-

mainder of August was

given over to thor-

oughly mucking out,

pressure washing, disin-

fecting and repainting

all of the stables where

our old and more needy

sheep are housed. This

was yet another huge

task; just digging out of

each stable was back-

breaking work as it had

to be done by hand. I

don’t know how many

trailer loads of dung and

bedding were removed -

what I do know is that

Emma was extremely relieved to see the last

trailer load leave the yard! Unfortunately by this

time the weather had broken and repainting each

stable took considerably longer than expected as

the paint just wouldn’t dry. Thankfully with the

stables this is not such a problem as in the big

shed as the old ‘boys and girls’ can simply cosy

up and share each others quarters for a night or

two. However, eventually each stable was com-

pleted and by the end of the month all of the sta-

bles were fully operational once again.

As September drew to

a close Fleecehaven

took in a poor little

soul who was in a

terribly emaciated

state. She had been

found lying by the

wayside. When ap-

proached she had mus-

tered all the strength

that she had to try and

run away but she

quickly collapsed

because she was so weak. The girls who found her

brought her straight to us and we immediately

called out our vet. She clearly had pneumonia and

was treated with antibiotics to try and bring down

her extremely high temperature. She was also

drenched to try and rid her of the parasites that

were riddling her body. We made her comfortable

and gave her as much love as we could, but we

knew that the likelihood of her surviving was

slim. Initially she did give us a little hope; she

nibbled some hay, ate one or two lamb nuts and

even stood up for a short while, but very sadly,

Freeda, as she'd been named by the girls, peace-

fully slipped away the following day. She was just

too weak to fight the battle necessary to survive

but at least we, and the girls who found her, were

able to ensure that her last few hours were as dig-

nified as possible and that she died knowing just a

little of the love that mankind is capable of show-

ing to animals that are otherwise considered to be

just a commodity to feed mankind's greed.

Thankfully, early October resulted in a considera-

bly happier story as Bell came to join us from

Wales. Bell is a dear old lady who was originally

part of a tame flock of ten sheep. Gradually the

Continued on Page 8

FLEECEHAVEN NEWS

Emma sewing up the wool bags

Derek and Emma loading up the

trailer

Welcome to Fleecehaven

VOLUME 8, ISSUE 1 Page 7

During the summer and autumn we have wel-

comed an unprecedented number of visitors to

Fleecehaven. It is always lovely to meet our sup-

porters and to share with them the work that we do

at Fleecehaven and enjoy our mutual love and

respect of sheep.

In July we were thrilled to welcome Emma and her

family from Canada! They had made a special

point of visiting Devon during their tour of the UK

so that Emma could meet Florence. Amy and

Jocelyn also visited.

August saw Jane

and Tony visit-

ing Lambor-

ghini with their

Grandchildren.

Jane and Tony

were the volun-

teer drivers from

Secret World

Wildlife Rescue

Centre who had

brought Lam-

borghini to us in

June. It was

lovely for them to be able see him fully settled into

his new life and to see how he had grown. Equally

it was lovely for their Grandchildren to see first

hand the little lamb that their Grandparents had

helped.

In September Christine came to spend a day with

us during her holiday in Ilfracombe. Zoe and her

brother also came to visit Chutney, Marmalade,

Honey and Pickle - it’s been a while since Zoe has

been able to visit but her sheep clearly remem-

bered her and enjoyed reacquainting themselves.

In October we were de-

lighted to welcome Cathy

and Andy to Fleecehaven.

Cathy and Andy are long

standing friends of Fleece-

haven who shared our love

of sheep long before Flee-

cehaven became a reality.

They used to holiday at the

farm where our original

flock came from and on

one occasion they were coming into the cottage on

the day that we left. We were distraught about

having to leave

Shaun behind

and they very

kindly agreed

to feed him

milk and bis-

cuits whilst

they stayed on

the farm. Over

a number of

years they vis-

ited the farm

and always held Shaun dear to their hearts.

Amy and Mark also

visited in October;

as did Elizabeth and

her husband. Our

last visitors of the

Autumn were Alex-

andra and Uwe from

Germany who vis-

ited on a couple of

occasions during

their holiday in

Lynton.

Other visitors over the

summer and autumn

months included Daniel

and Yolande who came

to see their ever increas-

ing flock of adopted

sheep; Maggie and

Tony who came to visit

Jessie; and of course

Andrea who comes to

see Barley and Darley as often as she possibly can.

Emma with Florence, Bungo

and Lamborghini

Jocelyn and Amy with Lam-

borghini and Bungo

Christine feeding Percy

Jane and Tony with their family

visiting Lamborghini

Alexandra and Uwe feed-

ing Henry and Leo

Andy and Cathy

Amy feeding Stevie and his

friends

Fund Raising at Olympia

‘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 flock has diminished through natural

causes and Lynne, her owner felt it was

time that she became part of a larger flock

whilst she lived out her twilight years.

Lynne brought her to us and stayed for a

number of days whilst she settled in. Bell

really is a sweetheart and very quickly

settled into life at Fleecehaven living

alongside some of our other more elderly

residents.

Finally, as October drew to a close it was time to drench the flock

with Molemec. This protects the sheep against parasites such as

gastro-intestinal nematodes, lungworms and nasal bots. As always,

rounding the sheep up also gave us an opportunity to give them all a

quick ‘once-over’ and ensure that they are all fit and healthy before

the winter starts to take her grip.

Page 8

At the end of September, Fleecehaven attended the VegFest at

Olympia, London. This was a brave move for us as the event is

massive and we really did feel as though we were ‘boxing’ some-

what out of our league. However, we decided to give it a go and,

whilst there, launched a fundraising campaign for an animal ambu-

lance. At the moment we use our somewhat aged family estate car

as an ambulance which is far from ideal. However, funds have never

allowed us to even consider purchasing such a vehicle and, without

fundraising, this will certainly remain the case. We don’t have grand

plans, we would simply like to be able to buy a small, second-hand

van that can be fitted out to safely transport sheep to and from the

veterinary hospital and, when necessary, be used to collect welfare

case sheep that are destined for Fleecehaven.

Our concerns about exhibiting at Olympia were unfounded as we

found ourselves completely over-whelmed by the interest in and

support for our work. We met some wonderful people and were

certainly able to spread the Fleecehaven word. Our ambulance fund

got off to an incredible start, thanks in no small part to another

amazingly generous donation from Magpie. Words can not express

our extreme gratitude to everyone who supported us at Olympia and

everyone who continues to support us on a regular basis. As a small,

family run charity your support really does make a huge difference

and it means such a great deal to us all, especially the sheep. Thank

you from the bottom of our hearts x

Bell settling into her new

life

I know that I’ve said this before, but if you

are looking to buy any homewares for

yourself or as gifts, please do take a look

at www.magpieline.com - you will find

some beautiful products with a distinctive

nostalgic and British edge. Magpie is a

fantastic, ethical, vegan friendly company

and we will be forever indebted to them.