Sad times - we need your help

Hi, i'm sharon the founder of sheep sanctuary, over 17 years I have rescued and networked to find homes for 1000s of animals within the farming industry.

Sadly over the last few years times have gotten so much harder as costs have risen massively, teamed with the fact that our rescues get older and take a lot more feed and care to maintain them.

Over the past few years I started to worry and slowly rehomed many animals ( to perfect homes) but this broke my heart as I felt like a failure, but I knew I was overstretched.

Anyone who has followed me knows that im a fighter and I dont quit, yet im exhausted as I've tried so hard to build a business alongside caring for so many animals.

Big supporters have died or pulled out which was hard enough plus the worry of the loss of their support.

Last year I had to make the heart breaking decision to rehome my cows that i'd had for 14 years but I had no choice, I let them go to hillside in an attempt to focus on just sheep.

300 sheep is quite a challenge but we thought that we could free up more barn space and also grow our own hay, sadly this year was so dry with zero grass, not only was there no chance of growing hay we also had to feed hay to old sheep due to grass shortage.

We sold our tractor as it needed a lot of work to fix which we couldn't afford, then sold all the equipment we had for the cows, in an attempt to top up the sanctuary account, but its nowhere near the funds needed to cover hay, straw, medications and vet care

I've worked hard all my life and I've watched all my life savings slowly disappear and now i'm literally rock bottom, I've sold my last property which was my pension to keep the sanctuary running. I've nothing left to sell other than my car that's not worth a lot.

I had hoped this summer we could pull it back with sheep hugging and on site shepherd huts, but its literally the worst year ever with so few bookings.

Im now trying to build our wool business from the sheared fleece of our rescued sheep, but I know this will take time and a lot of hours to establish.

I have secured a fantastic hay supplier who has 200 plus hay bales of the best quality and at a good price of just 27.00 per bale

If I can raise enough to cover the hay that will give us a little breathing space with the main worry being hard feed weekly cost which are in excess of 400 per week

I know times are hard for all but i'm looking at closure and downsizing if I cannot cover the bills as I have no choice and need to get an action plan in place to protect the sheep

Totally gutted to be honest that 17 years of dedication is slipping away, sheep are my world, my rescues gave me a voice and a purpose, a reason to carry on

I hate asking for money and that's why we work so hard to try to become self sustaining but im running out of ideas.

We just need a lucky break, we can put in the hard work but without the funds I have no choice to put plans in place to protect my animals

PLEASE SUPPORT sheep sanctuary, just a small amount could save us. On Facebook alone we have nearly 70,000 followers, if everyone donated just £1 a YEAR our problems would be solved

We really appreciate your support