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Hay Appeal

URGENT HAY APPEAL 


This past year has given us the biggest test yet, having lost our good friend Kevin to brain cancer just over a year ago, its not been easy to keep it all running as he was literally the backbone to the sanctuary, then the covid pandemic. 

Our sanctuary used up a lot of the reserves in place just to keep afloat through these hard times.
Forever optimistic I thought "it will be ok" and we started to look at other ways to become self sustaining ~ obviously our business of sanctuary tours and rental accommodation were totally decimated by lockdown but I had hoped that once restrictions were lifted that things would return to normal...
The problem being, even if we were to get fully booked, we would not earn enough to get through the winter and also recover depleted ( rainy day) funds .....
THEN came the call about orphan lambs....
( I had already said "no more lambs this year" as I knew times were harder than normal ) and that we were virtually full, but i have started to network and been very successful finding homes, so i knew if i could save these lives then i could look to rehome once they were passed the danger
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 So we quickly made plans to take them and it ended up being the biggest rescue to date for us, with around 40 small, weak ill or disabled lambs coming in, all work came to a sudden halt as bottle feeding so many babies as well as looking after very poorly lambs consumed every hour of the day.

We networked and found homes for 17 but we kept back the weak and ill lambs as well as battling through eye infections as well as the worst off we have seen, even catching off ourselves....BUT we did it and we can now see the light...
To know that we saved so many lives from certain death is rewarding but sadly it does not help us to feed all those hungry mouths, saving these lambs has many positives but the biggest negative is that we lost £1000's in earnings that were so desperately needed.
5 of the lives were literally full time care and one came in with pneumonia and unable to walk....But after 3 months of intensive care, all are doing amazingly well. ( Stories to come of the miracle lambs )
As many people know i have a true love for sheep, and letting them go is something that i do not do, but being just the 2 of us running the whole lot not only is it financially difficult its also physically impossible without paying for help.
So emotionally for me it has been very difficult to hand rear lambs and then find homes for a baby that i have bonded with, but i know there is no other way....So i tried to not bond with them ( very hard)
One little boy stole my heart, No 19 "Frank" ( i named him in memory of a much loved friend ) 1624619404_204137402_4104345086346627_7891346380821547717_n.jpgi have no idea why, other than the way he used to look at me touched my heart and i totally fell in love with him, he along with others that were ill, lived in our home (which we do to make sure they get the best possible chance) ~ i nursed him for 3 weeks and he was doing so well...then he started to limp and the dreaded "Joint ill" was diagnosed. He was being treated by the vet but he was getting worse, so the drugs were changed.
Sadly he had a bad reaction to the drug and he passed away...i cannot even begin to tell you the emotions, my heart was totally broken. ~ WHY ?
For days i felt numb, i could not believe what had happened, what were the chances of an allergic reaction....I felt like giving up, but i had so many lambs that needed me. Then a poorly lamb arrived, unable to walk, with pneumonia and she became my focal point.
I named her "Frankie" ~ she was so ill that on a few occasions i was close to calling our vet to let her go, but she had a will and a desire to live. She took hours of care every day, but now 3 months on she has turned a corner and has taken her first steps unaided ( her story will be coming ) ~ she gave me a focus and a WHY

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Now the last of our lambs have been weaned, life will get a bit easier but theres always sheep needing help as we have now become a successful networking site to help people who can no longer keep their pet sheep for whatever reason 

I do hope to now start working on the sanctuary tours and rebuilding stock, but there are only so many hours in a day and a lot to earn to go anywhere near the amounts that we need


Some of our cruelty free creations made with love from our forever flock of sheep
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And Sheep walking sessions with our Valais sheep, plus so much more ....

IF we can get through this difficult time 

  • If we can get through these unprecedented and unforeseen difficulties, then we can then start to realise the amazing plans currently in the pipeline, which have sadly had to be put on hold for now 

To give you a rough idea of the costs incurred by the sanctuary over the winter period alone, I have included the following information -
This year our usual hay supplier has illness and cannot do us the small bales that we normally get, we have found another supplier but this means we cannot spread the cost over the winter. To secure the hay we need to pay and store it when its cut and baled from the field otherwise we will lose it. Which will be at least £3000

250 - 300 large hay bales 

2000 small hay bales

200 Top Chop (for our elderly toothless sheep)

150 large straw bales

Plus vitamins, minerals, cereal feed bags, vet care and more.

This comes to a whopping £23,500 - to see us through the winter period alone.

We URGENTLY need your help to survive and to enable us to keep our animals in the style to which they have become accustomed. We appreciate that many people are in the same boat and we will continue our dream to become self sustaining , by earning as much ourselves as possible, through the diversification mentioned earlier.

  • How can you help?
    By donating to us which can be done on this fundraiser...or through our website via paypal or bank transfer Sheep Sanctuary Website 
    By sharing our fundraiser
    By setting up regular monthly support Monthly Support 
    Using our Etsy store Etsy Eweloveshop which we use for all of our woolly merchandise and now also to book sheep walking
    We are also needing crafters and knitters, crocheters, artists, weavers, spinners that can donate their time to creating gifts for us to sell to fundraise for the animals ~ please message us if interested
    By booking our On site Shepherd Huts Huts on the sanctuary