Spring Newsletter 2019

Spring Newsletter

May 2019

Britain's First Farm Animal Sanctuary Contact us: Manor Orchard Farm School Lane Middle Littleton Evesham Worcestershire WR11 8LN 01386 834500 info@thefarmanimalsanctuary.co.uk

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Visit us: We are open for visits every Saturday throughout the summer months. Spaces are limited so please book your spot! We will take you on a guided tour of the farm and introduce you to our residents, and then you are welcome to stay and get to know some of the animals. We kindly request a minimum donation of £5 which will go straight to the care of the animals.

U n d e r 1 0 ’s are free and if you have adopted one of our animals your visit is free.

Reg Charity: 702287

Dear Friends & Supporters, It's rather late, but the first chance I've had to say thank you all so much for your Christmas good wishes, your cards, biscuits, apples and carrots for the animals, treats for the staff and volunteers, and for your ongoing support, which we couldn't do without, we all felt quite spoilt.

Four of our residents were especially pleased to welcome in the New Year, turkeys Matilda, Joy, Nigella and Delia. They are happy to wander around the yards, chase Bailey the Basset, generally poke their beaks into whatever is happening, and just get in the way. Every turkey born should be able to enjoy a life like this, it's so sad that they're seen as food, to be eaten with "trimmings" whatever they are and not happy, contented animals with their own quirky personalities.

www.thefarmanimalsanctuary.co.uk

Patron: Joanna Lumley OBE

Spring Newsletter

May 2019

While normal people were getting excited about a new phone app, whatever that is, or another exotic coffee flavoured latte, (don't even know if such a thing exists), we would feel delirious with joy when someone delivered a trailer load of beautiful, soft, green hay, the best smell in the world. We would go to bed happy after listening to the sound of barns full of contented sheep, eyes half closed, chewing the cud.

What no one wants is a repeat of last year’s drought, but as always, the weather is in the lap of the gods.

Winter was bearable, no snow, a few frosts and no d e v a s t a t i n g fl o o d s . T h e storms caused a bit of a problem, George the Big Pig had his house blown away three times, it was swiftly bolted into the concrete before it disappeared into the next county, with George making it clear it was done without his approval. George didn't like his house being on the concrete, he preferred to drag it around his paddock, he looked like a gigantic pink snail or Hermit Crab on the move.

Our biggest problem was to keep on finding hay and straw to keep almost 600 animals fed and comfortable, not for the expected 4 to 5 months, but for almost 12 months.

Because of the previous long summer drought hay and straw were in very short supply, prices doubled, mild panic began to set in as we all searched further afield for something becoming as rare as hens teeth.

Reg Charity: 702287

New Arrivals.

Feather and Queenie Queenie, a five year old ewe, and little Feather the lamb arrived together. Feather was about eight months old; his growth was very stunted, he weighed about as much as a lamb of three to four months old.

They both came from a commercial farm where welfare care and standards were obviously not high on the list of requirements.

Queenie had a massively swollen hind leg which was leaking pus, and obviously very painful and little Feather, apart from being massively underweight, was unable to use his back legs. X-rays showed that his bones were a bit like tissue paper. He'd been found lying on his side on a non too clean barn floor, his farmer/owners philosophy was to leave animals like Queenie and Feather to their own devices in the hope they would recover without intervention, or cost. www.thefarmanimalsanctuary.co.uk

Patron: Joanna Lumley OBE

Spring Newsletter

May 2019

We were more than happy to find a space for them, had we said no they would both almost certainly have died from lack of basic care, also called neglect.

After weeks of intensive treatment they've both made great improvements, Queenie is now weight bearing on a much healthier looking leg, little Feather has put on a lot of weight due to his very healthy appetite, (one or two Rich Tea biscuits a day as a treat) and now has his own walking aid!

Two mobility support slings, designed for dogs, and one outgrown baby walker adapted by Steph, his main carer here, and Feather is up and on his feet doing his excercises two or three times a day, a big beaming smile on his little face.

If all goes well Feather should be able to walk unaided in time, his lack of mobility is thought to be caused by nerve damage, we've found before that nerves can repair themselves given time, as happened with Freedom the Sheep.

Queenie and Feather on arrival: Queenie's leg, broken and infected, Feather thin and weak.

Elliott

few pet sheep so were able to keep him safe overnight and give him the care he needed.

Next to come through the gate was a very small lamb who had been given the named Elliot. Elliot was found late one evening abandoned on someone's property, less than three weeks old he was unwanted, someone thought his life was disposable, like garbage.

He was cold and hungry, he must have felt very bewildered and frightened finding himself all alone in strange surroundings?

Feather - fatter, smilier, and enjoying his physio sessions in his new baby bouncer.

Looking after small lambs is time consuming, four to five bottles a day to begin with starting with a very early morning first feed, finishing with a last night midnight bottle, and they need other lambs to play with, the family who found him knew they wouldn't be able to do all this for him.

We were happy to take him, Feather needed company, the two boys would be company for each other, and with great good luck would grow old together.

For tunatel y for El liot the owners of the property kept a Reg Charity: 702287

www.thefarmanimalsanctuary.co.uk

Patron: Joanna Lumley OBE

Spring Newsletter

May 2019

Added extras: Also needing new forever homes were Handsome Herriot, who arrived from Wales, Poppy and Panda, two ewes, also from Wales.

A change in circumstances meant that these much loved sheep needed a safe home for life, we were happy we were able to help.

It was decided by a local school, that Minty and Sean, two very rotund sheep, had served their purpose in the small school farm. Being over friendly and confident they had taken to butting any child they decided need a good butting, I'm sure the kids gave as good as they got, but the powers that be decided that they would be better off being served up on a plate than keeping the grass down, and keeping certain children in order.

Fortunately for them a vegetarian parent objected to the betrayal of two innocent sheep and arranged for them to be diverted to us.

Three elderly goats were next, their elderly owner died rather suddenly leaving over 300 animals he'd rescued over the years to be dealt with as he'd made no provisions for them in the event of his death. We understood that all of the sheep were sent to slaughter, the ponies and small animals all found homes, no one would take the goats, it was either slaughter or us.

So it was us. I'll say it was reluctantly us, goats have different needs to sheep, they prefer to browse hedges and jump over fences rather than get their heads down and eat the grass.

Yesterday, Orlando the sheep arrived, another much loved boy. Born on a small commercial farm Orlando was ill as a lamb and needed special care, being ill saved his life, his companions were all sent off to be slaughtered, Orlandos' carer begged successfully for his life.

Two years on, and there's no longer any space for him at the place where he was born. Welcome home, Orlando.

Reg Charity: 702287

www.thefarmanimalsanctuary.co.uk

Dates for your Diary June 15th: In support of Compassion in World Farmings' campaign against Live Exports.

Everyone is welcome, just a drop in, spend some time with the animals & like minded people, meet the survivors, bring your own food, & a biscuit for the sheep, we can provide hot & cold water.

Open Day As usual our Open Day will be on the first Sunday in September, which is the 1st.

There will be stalls, talks, vegan food, raffle, tombola, and of course...the animals.

Patron: Joanna Lumley OBE

Spring Newsletter

May 2019

We have a policy which is; We accept funding from members of the public to rescue and care for farm animals. The public expect us to put that funding to the best use, eg to do our best for animals in need. We don't just take the easy animals, if we can find a space for the animals who come with their problems, we will. We don't spend money on smart vehicles, our Pick-ups are a bit battered but do their job, the tractor has ground to a halt and needs quite a lot of TLC. At the same time we are careful not to overstock, or compromise the welfare of the animals we have, spaces are created when we lose our elderly animals to age or infirmity, so our numbers are constantly changing.

And now for something completely different.

In the early hours of Sunday morning our beautiful Alsatian Beatrice died peacefully in her sleep. She was a stray dog who had been left in the gutter with a broken pelvis after a road accident, it was thought she was about 18 months old. She's been with us for over eleven years. She had her problems when she first came, but grew into a loving, loyal, protective dog, never happier than when she was spending the day working on the farm with Louise.

She's left a huge empty space which we had no intentions of trying to fill.

A few days after her death I received an email with a photo attached, of a very small Jack Russell puppy desperately needing a home.

This puppy had been abandoned, stuffed into a box and left for someone to find in a park on a very cold, wet day. Fortunately her finders realised she needed urgent care and took her straight to a Vets. She was shivering with cold, she was frightened, she was hungry, she was in great discomfort, she was covered in faeces and needed immediate surgery to save her life. Without going into detail she wasn't able to poo, she needed reconstruction surgery, she also had a bladder infection.

She was about three weeks old and weighed 1.2 kilos. She was given the name Zero, without Surgery her chances of survival were Zero.

The Vet and her team saved her life, she survived two operations, grew stronger by the day and was soon ready to leave the confines of the Vets surgery and find herself a home. She was happy, she was healthy, she loved everyone, just one problem, she was poo incontinent, she couldn't feel when she needed to go.

Emails were sent out to all the dog rescues, those who replied suggested it would be better to euthanise her, no one would ever want an incontinent puppy/dog.

Welcome home Zero, now renamed Betty Bee. She's a typical Jack Russell puppy, totally full of energy, almost manic chasing her ball around the kitchen, throwing her toys around, chewing anything and everything she can get her needle sharp teeth into which includes your fingers, your shoelaces, the odd chair leg, annoying all of the older dogs by throwing herself into one of their beds to crash out into when she's worn herself out. Just what happy puppies are supposed to do.

She's very good when she wants to pee, if she's not too busy playing she'll ask to go out and she actually peed in the drain this morning, a bonus, and the pooing? She's a tiny dog at the moment on a special diet, she either produces maltesers or chipolatas. We have a tiled floor, plenty of kitchen roll and dettol spray, you just need to remember to look down before you move.

We have a saying: Saving the life of one animal won't change the world, but it will change the world for one animal.

Reg Charity: 702287

www.thefarmanimalsanctuary.co.uk

Patron: Joanna Lumley OBE

Spring Newsletter

May 2019

Proper Spring is late coming, trees and flowers have come into life early due to an unexpected freakish warm spell, but as yet not enough of the right sort of rain to bring a promise of plenty of grass, and plenty of hay and straw. Those of you whose legs still work, please do a rain dance, or if like me you can't sing, all sing now.

Running out of time as usual, but just to say I know I owe some of you a thank you letters, it's been a stressful few months one way or another and I am behind with lots of things that need to be done, so my apologies.

And just to sign off, a huge thank you to Beryl Romano who runs A1 Petline, a charity who give support to a lot of small charities - animal and human - for buying a stock trailer for our use, just when we needed one most and didn't know how we could possibly get one.

Thank you all for supporting us, for caring about these animals.

PS, I've just seen that one small puppy has fallen sound asleep with Lottie our little blind dog, best mates now.

Please remember us in your will. Whatever you leave behind will go directly to help the animals in our care.

Please contact us if you need help writing us into your Will.

Reg Charity: 702287

A huge Thank you to Inferno Branding, who provide us with our polo shirts and jackets, and donate all of the p r o f it s f r o m sales of our merchandise.

Please visit our website or contact us to find out how you too can get your hands on our branded clothing and gifts, and help raise us much needed funds

www.thefarmanimalsanctuary.co.uk

Patron: Joanna Lumley OBE