5th May 2022

PLEASE HELP WITH FEED COSTS

The current cost of living crisis is not just affecting people on an individual level but it is affecting charities too.

Running costs are escalating especially on every day spend on feed for the rescues.

We do not generically feed the sheep but do so on an as needed basis. This is because commercial sheep feed is aimed at fast growth of lambs and extra nutrition for pregnant ewes or working rams.

In the rescue world the former is not a requirement but there is a requirement for additional supplementation of vitamins and minerals by the way of lick buckets especially over the winter period until goodness can be found in the spring grass. Appropriate licks, however, are also needed during this rich spring grass period to help balance and maintain gut health.

Hard feed, as it’s known, is specifically tailored to fulfill the Sheep Ahoy gang without the ingredients in commercial feed that can cause problems, specifically to the boys.

A bespoke mix is fed to any older or poorly sheep to support their nutrition or to sheep with poor dentition that cannot chew forage properly. We also feed sheep where grazing is restricted and they are relying on hay alone.

This all means that on a weekly basis we purchase in around £100 of feed which may not seem a lot compared to other sanctuaries but over the month it’s between £400 and £500 plus the additional cost of hay and straw …. so for each month over the winter we have been paying out around £1000 just to feed and house the sheep and that is without purchasing licks as these are around £30 a bucket.

Feed costs are going up on a weekly basis and one of the feeds we use has gone up to £19.30 whereas it was around £14/£15 last year … in fact on our website it states it can be purchased for £13.75!

The particular feed mentioned above is a key forage for older and poorly sheep and so we must keep purchasing it.

We have an event planned for later in May which will help to top up funds but in the meantime we are launching an appeal for funds to help us over the remainder of this month.

We hope you don’t mind us posting about this but Julia has been juggling finances for the past few months and so we are reaching out for any help that you can give …. as they say every little helps!

Thanks for all your support as always.

8th March 2022

Spring Fayre 22nd May 2022

Sunday, 22nd May 2022

12 – 4 pm

@

Guilton Field, Ash, Canterbury, Kent CT3 2HT

The sun is starting to shine and have some warmth in it so it’s about time that we announced out first planned event 2022!

It seems a long time since our last event and The Gang are waiting to meet you all on Sunday 22nd May 2022

Lots of food, stalls and things to do as usual, so fun to be had by all!

All the wonderful food and refreshments served are vegan, so why not try one of the delicious cakes!

Stalls to be confirmed but we will definitely have out famous BBQ as well as the usual Tombola and merchandise stalls plus our popular ‘New & Old’ stall too.

We will keep too our recent format in the field of a one way system as it worked really well.

Hygiene is key to us and so there will be multiple hand washing/sanitising stations and regular cleaning of stall areas and toilets.

Dogs welcome on leads

Parking available

Bus stop adjacent to field

Toilet facilities

Please come and support us as we cannot do what we do without you our supporters

FREE ENTRY as usual but donations always welcome.

** NOTE: If adverse weather on the day or the event is cancelled for any reason then it will be posted on this page **

27th January 2022

A Very Long Day

I’m so tired …. both physically and mentally tired.

I’m not looking for sympathy as running a sanctuary is my choice but I want people to know that when I’m late or forget to do things that it’s because I’m either involved with the animals or I’m just so tired that I can’t think straight.

Today is a classic example of a day at Sheep Ahoy being both a busy and productive day today at the charity ☺️

It started with picking up a shed that had been donated to us from some kind people and taking it to one of the fields. Unloading the shed, picking up some sheep hurdles from the field and then some shed paneling and other wood from a kind local supporter. Then we were off to the polytunnel field where the priority was of course to check and feed the sheep. That in itself is a mammoth job as we make up our own bespoke feed and feed the sheep according to their individual needs, for example, Eli needs a separate feed as he won’t eat with the other lambs.

Then it was time to unload the trailer and we put the donated shed panels to use straight away. We used these to wind proof the area we had made for Ed and Bill & Ben plus we then secured their area even more with the hurdles we’d brought from the other field …. We just don’t trust that Ed sheep!

Lots of other tasks which included unloading the feed from the trailer and putting in the secure feed bins. Feed ranges from 15kg to 25kg a bag and there is no other way than to literally lift it into the feed bins. I do worry about the charity volunteers who carry out these tasks along with me for the sake of the rescues. I’m not sure they know what they are signing up too when they start to volunteer.

If that wasn’t enough we re stacked the few remaining hay and straw bales and created an area for the fresh large hay rounds to be stored … and as if by magic they arrived!

Phew! What a day!

We do it for our love of the sheep but it still doesn’t stop us being exhausted and our bodies aching at the end of the day.

On top of all the jobs we do is spending time with the rescues. Peter just loves fusses and follows us around just to spend time with us, Caleb is very chilled and waits patiently for a cuddle, Ed wants us with him 24hrs a day so whatever time we do spend with him needs to be quality time …. we just love it but do realise that we have to balance our time between tasks and spending time with our sheep family.

The day did have some funny parts like the time that I got the biscuits knocked out of my hand and ended up with Elvis between my legs stuffing his face with biscuits whilst the others knocked me forward and stood on my hair …. I emerged looking like a scarecrow!

The evening usually involves admin tasks but tonight that’s a ‘no’ as my brain isn’t up to it and I need an early night with some pain relief 😂

15th January 2022

SHEEP FEED – HELP PLEASE!

Bill & Ben with their friend Ed the sheep enjoying their daily meal

Our policy is to allow our residents to live the most natural and stress free life as possible. In reality, this means allowing access to outside grazing with shelter available at their choice … which they do choose when the weather is rainy or windy!

Unfortunately, in the winter months the outside grazing is limited and both the sheep and goats diet is almost totally hay which is supplemented with mineral licks or the like plus fresh veg.

As in the case of us humans, the sheep and goats have individual requirements, for example, the oldies need extra ‘hard’ feed as we call it due to lack of good grinding teeth. In most years we end up adding extra hard feed to the groups kept at the polytunnel as these groups have the more vulnerable sheep in and they need the extra calories.

We don’t feed commercial sheep mix to the majority as this is aimed at fast growth, i.e. fast weight gain, and the contents of the feed can cause serious problems for our boy sheep, as in urinary calculi or stones in the urinary tract.

We have our own specific feed mix which has evolved with discussions with our vet and is very much high fibre and low protein based which would be the natural diet of sheep.

The polytunnel sheep are now getting through £70 of feed a week and we are hoping some of you may like to help out with this cost in one of two ways.

A direct donation can be made to us using the ‘Donation’ button on our website www.sheepahoy.org.uk or you can donate some money onto our account with our feed supplies, any amount welcome. To do this just call the lovely people at Riding Habit Kent on 01304 611295 and they will take it from there

Here are the items we are currently purchasing weekly with the latest prices:

Dengie Grass Nuts – £10.50

Original Sugar Beet – £10.99

Dengie Meadow Grass – £13.75

Readigrass – £18.80

Allen & Page Sheep Mix – £14.70

Thank you for your support as always

10th August 2021

A Wonderful Day Was Had At Sheep Ahoy!

We held our first event of 2021 on 1st August and what a wonderful day was had by all …. humans and sheep equally enjoyed it.

The weather was against us from the start but we went ahead knowing rain showers were likely during the afternoon. Well I think rain showers was an understatement as the heavens literally opened just as the event started but you all kept coming in to support us regardless of the downpour …. and then, just as quickly as it begun the rain stopped. the sun came out and everyone was able to enjoy the afternoon

Thank you for visiting us even with rain forecast, many of you coming some distance, what amazing people you all are.

The sheep were pretty well behaved except young Sioux who was determined to get the pick of the feed bags by jumping up to get them! How many times did you hear the words ‘Sioux NO!’ during the afternoon or Dee saying ‘She’s just excited’ … well she was just an excited baby at her first event so who can blame her.

Thanks to all for visiting and all who helped, we couldn’t do any of it without you

20th January 2021

RADIO KENT INTERVIEW

Jo Burns from Radio Kent recently came to find out about Sheep Ahoy. Why not have a listen.

6th December 2020

SHEEP AHOY CALENDARS 2021

To save spending valuable funds on calendar stock we have used a different approach this year.

Calendars will be printed on demand from our online shop at ASK Online Print and sent directly to you by them. That will not only mean that Sheep Ahoy don’t have to pay for calendars up front but is more environmentally friendly too as we won’t be throwing away any unsold calendars. You’ll also receive them quicker than when Julia posts them out

A4 calendars are available for £10 each and printed to our vegan standards.

Just click on the link to take a look … thanks

BUY 2021 CALENDARS

13th February 2020

Heroes For The Animals Pennine Way Walk

EVENT CANCELLED

Unfortunately this event had to be cancelled due to COVID-19 issues.

A couple of days ago we eluded to an event that our patron, Rose Wyles, will be undertaking to raise funds for our Land Fund … well here are the details!

Rose will be walking the Penine Way from north to south, a total of 268 miles, to raise funds for Sheep Ahoy.

The event is called ‘Heroes For The Animals Pennine Way Walk’ and will start on the 5th August 2020.

To purchase charity land would be a dream come true, not only because we could then keep all the animals together, but so as we can create an educational centre where people can learn about the rescues but about veganism too.

This is a major event and Rose has support from Vegan and Vegetarian UK, an organisation working to accerate change to a vegan world.

The event is going to be developing continually and further details can be found at:

www.thevegannutritionist.co.uk
www.vavuk.co.uk

The Facebook event is on Rose Wyles page Rose Wyles – The Vegan Nutritionist.

Sheep Ahoy would like to thank Rose and the VaVUK team personnaly for underating this event and supporting the animals

11th February 2020

Charity Patron: Rose Wyles ~ The Vegan Nutritionist

We have some exciting news!

Sheep Ahoy Animal Rescue has it’s first charity patron in the lovely Rose Wyles – The Vegan Nutritionist.

A patron is someone who agrees to lend their name to an organisation as a way of supporting them by helping them get noticed, adding prestige or lending credibility to the cause. Rose certainly does all those things because she has the same vegan values as Sheep Ahoy plus supports our objectives and future plans.

Rose has a healthy following on Twitter and is now managing our Twitter account too which takes the pressue off the rest of the team …. The Sheep Ahoy Twitter account @olisgang has grown from around 45 followers to well over 1000 in the short time that Rose has managed things

Rose is dedicated to helping raise the profile of our Land Fund project and to raising funds for it too. Watch this space for an update on what she has planned … it’s massive!

Rose is a qualified Nutritionist and is a Vegan, Raw, WFPB & Child Nutrition Consultant so why not visit her at www.thevegannutritionist.co.uk or follow on Twitter @vegannutrition1 for some great dietary tips and recipes!

Thanks Rose for supporting us

11th January 2020

NAMING COMPETITION

NAMING COMPETITION UPDATE

This cute boy was named Larry in the naming competition 🙂

This new arrival at Sheep Ahoy was attacked by a dog but the family whose dog attacked him paid for vet treatment and have now been allowed to have him and bring to us.

Lambie has travelled all the way from Wales and is settling in well.

The dog attack literally saved his life as his friends have gone to slaughter

Just to explain about the dog attack, the owners had visited the area for years and the garden of the cottage they stay is enclosed by a high fence …. this was an unfortunate incident but the owners did everything in their power to save this lamb and they did in the end

All suggested names will be numbered and go into a random generator and which ever name is picked will become his name.

It’s £5 per name.

To take part just click here to donate the £5 and add the name in the ‘Add a Note’ section.

Good Luck!

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