Penny in Loving Memory

It is with the most enormous sadness that we must announce that our beloved Penny has fallen asleep and joined her friends across the Rainbow Bridge. She snuggled up cosy and warm in her stable, which you helped us to make nice and comfortable for her with your kind donations of spongy stable mats and deep straw bedding, fell asleep, and simply forgot to wake up – and we wouldn’t have wanted it any other way for this beautiful girl. We are heartbroken but so happy that her end with us came so peacefully for her.

Penny was a tower of strength; she had needed special veterinary treatment and extra care from our animal care team throughout her life, but she simply got on with this and took everything in her stride – animals never fail to astound us with their resilience, strength, and bravery. She was always kind and gentle, never the bully. She was a mother and continued to care for her daughter and friends as any good mother would. Whatever your beliefs, we like to hope that Penny is now reunited with not only her friends who went on before her but her lovely daughter Tuppence, once again happy and healthy.

Penny and Tuppence joined us almost eight years ago from another sanctuary that had sadly fallen into hardship and was having trouble paying the very high bills that these animals can generate – they just wanted the very best for them, and we think we were able to give them that in their time with us. Penny was a very old lady, and it was simply her time.

Penny has been so loved by us all – our residents are more than just animals that we care for, they are family to us. Some of us spend more time with these wonderful animals than with our own families and have built up such special bonds with them over the years together. We know that many of you care for them deeply too and this means so much to us, and of course, to them too. Thank you for helping to make a difference in her life and thank you for always showing her kindness during your visits – animals are intelligent and feel, and she will have felt your kindness.

While we will miss Penny so very much, we will put all our love into the family she has left behind; Jim, Harper, Groot, Ollie, Brian, and Pettle. Lots of extra cuddles for these guys and a special helping of Penny’s favourite treat in her honour, her special porridge.

Sweet dreams beautiful Penny xxx

Fact Friday: Sheep Teeth

A subject that comes up quite often here is our sheep teeth, and you might wonder why? So, we thought it was about time we brought you a well overdue Fact Friday and an explanation! But to begin with, assuming you’re not all ovine dentists, a little background.

Adult sheep have 32 permanent teeth which are divided into two sections. They have eight incisors in the lower front jaw and twenty-four molars. Sheep have no teeth in the front part of their upper jaw, and this instead consists of a dense, hard, fibrous pad that aids in grabbing and chewing grass. They also use their tongue to wrap, tear and chew on fibrous vegetable materials.

At birth, lambs usually have no teeth. Within a week after birth, their milk teeth appear in the front lower jaw and by two months, eight in all, have erupted. These temporary teeth are replaced by permanent incisors, which appear in pairs, starting with the two central teeth, followed by one on either side at intervals, until the eight temporary teeth have been replaced. During this time when their teeth are growing, sheep are referred to by the number of permanent incisors they have, such as two-tooth, four-tooth, six-tooth, eight-tooth or "full mouth" at around three to four years old.

The next stage after full mouth is known as "broken mouth" as their incisors will now start to spread out, wear down, break, or even fall out. This is just natural wear and tear through constant chewing of fibrous grasses, and eventually, we see what is known as a “gummer”. These sheep have no incisors left at all and are simply left with their molars, and yes, you’ve guessed it, their hard gums.

These are the sheep who are quite a topic of conversation at Brockswood as now that many of our residents are reaching old age, we are now altering many of our care routines to take these individuals into account. These sheep would very likely be culled in some settings where individual care would not be possible, but here we will simply alter their diets and care plans. We keep a close eye on the body condition of each of these sheep to ensure none are losing weight and are still able to take in both the right amounts of food, but also the same levels of nutrients. This can involve feeding separately, moving into smaller groups, feeding shorter fibres, making up mash feeds, and providing supplements, as well as health checks from both us and our veterinarians.

You will have met many of these sheep and not even know anything was different about them!

Sansa has lost her teeth now

But you would never know it!

It is just one of several issues we are working with as our residents grow older, making us think outside of the box, as many of these animals simply don’t live this long outside of sanctuaries. There is a little research as a result and so we are amazing residents here who have a lot to teach us!

Fact Friday: Wool

We know we missed our last couple of Fact Fridays! With us so busy shearing our sheep residents last Friday and the heat of the previous Friday (our hottest day of the year so far) we needed to rest our brains! We’re back this week and inspired by shearing day, we thought we’d tell you a little about our woolly friends.

So, why do we shear sheep? Firstly, this is a need that we Humans have created! Like other domestic animals, we have bred sheep for different traits to develop the breeds we have today - it is believed that selective breeding for woolly sheep began around 6000 BCE. Ancient sheep bear little resemblance to today’s wool sheep, selectively bred for thousands of years for their woolly fleeces after we discovered the many uses that we can put their wool to, everything from clothing ourselves to making sails for ships. The Romans even started to breed them for specific colour traits.

Wild sheep naturally shed their coarse winter coats, scratching their bodies against trees, and rubbing away their extra fluff as the weather warms up - you may have seen our Soays looking a little worse for wear in the spring; these are an ancient breed and naturally shed, unlike our other rescued sheep which are all wool breeds and cannot regulate their excess fleece on their own.

Soay Sheep

So why do we need to take those fleeces off if we’re not keeping them for their wool? The answer is simply for their welfare! Wool is nature’s best insulator, protecting sheep from the extreme cold in the winter months. However, continuing to wear this thick, heavy fleece during the summer can be uncomfortable and stressful, increasing the risk of overheating, parasite infestation such as flystrike, and becoming ‘rigged’ (stuck on their back due to the added weight of their fleece) – yes, there’s truth to this tale you have all heard, sheep can get stuck on their back and as we discussed in our earlier Bloat Fact, this can kill them if not turned over!

Very early sheep farmers tried many different methods of removing wool and sadly some were (and in some places, still are) more painful for the sheep than others, such as stone scraping tools knapped from flint, or ‘rooing’ which involves simply plucking out the wool. We have sheep to thank for the invention of scissors and archaeologists have even discovered beautifully crafted shears in Ancient Egyptian tombs!

Here at the sanctuary, we work with a skilled shearer (using modern painless techniques) who’s known our residents for several years and treats our sheep respectfully and as individuals – he’s even learned some of their names. Our animal care team are also there throughout the process to reassure them and assist when needed.

Our beautiful woolies!

Shearing Larry

Shearing Evangeline

Ivy & Evie - Before & After

Archie after his trim!

One of their enormous fleeces.

Rachel learning to fleece roll

But not to worry! Just like your hair, sheep wool continues to grow after it has been trimmed and will start to grow back ready for those colder months, growing about six millimetres per month (this varies with breed, nutrition, and environment), and so our sheep need to be sheared annually – some woollier breeds are even shorn twice a year!

We have so many more woolly facts to share with Ewe, but we’ll save those for another Friday. If you have any burning questions you’d like us to answer, we’d love to feature a fact of yours – please send them our way.