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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 [email protected] 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.