The Sheep

Sarah

Sarah, will live out the rest of her days with us, here at Woodfield.

Sarah Meeting Boris Shortly After He Arrived
Sarah meeting Boris shortly after he arrived 
Sarah Trying Her First Mineral Lick
Sarah and Boris sharing some food together

Bertie & Baby G

We received a call from Merthyr regarding a lonely sheep that wandered onto someone’s property. He clearly needed to be with other sheep, so we offered him a home. We named him Bertie! He became good friends with two other sheep, Bluebell and Jimmy. Around two weeks later, a completely blind lamb turned up at our gate. His name was Baby G. We decided to put him with Bertie, and they became inseparable! Baby G follows Bertie and is learning how to live with his condition. He has a great quality of life, and he loves his food and Bertie’s company. They will both live out the rest of their life with us, here at Woodfield.

Bertie today

Alex

Usually lambing season represents a tiresome and battling time at Woodfield. Normally, we have orphan or sick lambs arriving from as young as 10 minutes old to 48 hours old, needing urgent treatment and round the clock care. This story starts with a rare and unseen twist. Right on cue, as dinner is ready, we hear a beep from outside the gate. Rushing to our posts with colostrum at the ready, we all stood with a look of confusion as a ewe and her newborn lamb are lifted out of the back of a van. We were told upon arrival that the ewe was blind and that her lamb was very sick. Never before have we before taken in a lamb as well as it’s mother. Our attention was immediately drawn to the newborn lamb, who we named Bonito. Frail and not suckling from her mother, we delivered colostrum as a precaution, as lambs who do not get their mothers colostrum do not survive in many cases. After close inspection, we realised just how sick Bonito was. We called our farm vet for a second opinion. We got the confirmation from the vet that Bonito had pneumonia. We also feared that she might have meningitis. We administered pain killers and antibiotics, and anxiously awaited Bonito’s response. During this time, we turned our attention to the ‘blind’ ewe, and upon closer inspectiont was it was confirmed that she was not blind, but frightened and badly traumatised from her ordeal. We have never encountered a sheep so nervous of humans. She was regularly seen dropping to the floor in fear when approahed by humans. The ewe was not carrying sufficient milk, a course of oxytocin was administered alongside a course of pain killers and antibiotics to clear up an infection in her foot. Also concerned about the blood present on the sides of her face, we noticed the open wounds to both of her ears. We soon realised that someone had intentionally ripped her identity tags off of her ears. Over the next six months, we battled tirelesly each day to treat the foot infection. With regular follow up appointments from our farm vet, we felt like we were getting nowhere. The infection was spreading further up the leg day by day. We talked about amputation of the limb as an option, if we could not stop the infection from spreading to her shoulder. Whilst flushing the limb daily, as if by miracle, we started to recieve clear fluid. Within days, our ewe, newly names Alex after our incredible vet, she became better. A few months after Bonito’s arrival, we felt he was still not recieving sufficient milk from Alex. Bonito began to deteriorate. We felt it was now time to intervene, and we began to stomach tube Bonito with milk and vitamins every few hours. Every few hours we were expecting the worst. He was almost lifeless and still had a chest infection. Our farm vet returned to asses the situation. Alex the vet recommended a drug that is used in life or death situations with sheep, where a one off steroid injection would either better or worsen Bonito’s situation. Over the next 24 hours, it was very much a touch and go experience. But as if by miracle, we were pleasantly surprised to see Bontio standing and suckling from his mother. Day by day Bonito began to get stronger, and continued to improve. Alex and Bonito are now fully recovered and will live out the rest of their days with us here at Woodfield.Sponsor Alex/Bonito

Alex & Bonito Summer 2020
Bonito and his mother Alex
Bonito & His Mother Alex (2020)

Archie

Archie is without a doubt one of the most frail lambs we have ever had. He came to us just hours old with pneumonia in both lungs, and the vets told us to be prepared for the worst, but he survived the night. He spent his first month requiring round the clock care. He has come so far since then! He ihas gained strength and is enjoying his time with the his new sheep family.

Archie Settling In
Archie Loves This Sofa!
Archie making himself at home!
Archie In A Barrow! (2019)

Ebony

We found Ebony on a local common. It had been reported to us that her mother had been hit and killed by a car. Ebony was attempting to graze but without her mother’s milk she was very weak. To our amazement, despite being raised initially by her mother, Ebony copied the other lambs and drunk milk from the bottle. Then later, Ebony taught our orphan lambs how to eat grass!

Ebony & Dylan (2020)
Ebony and Dylan
Ebony Summer 2020
Ebony Summer 2020