Woolley Animals News

March 2023 - Hey Dave, why the long face?..... Regular visitors will know the resident donkeys - Jess and her son Dave. Dave was removed from mum just before surgery. One hour after surgery and still in recovery, naughty Dave jumped the fence and decided to live with the alpaca boys. Fortunately, he is no trouble and was soon returned to mum who's been calling for him. If you visit you'll be sure to hear them both bray! - they know you have food.

Christmas 2022 - a magical Winter Wonderland - what an amazing time we had for Christmas this year. The staff did us proud with their festive fancy dress, we introduced new lighting displays, a festive Winter Wonderland Christmas scene, the usual light up displays and festive fair and early December we received a present from Santa in the form of Buddy the little goat orphan who kept everyone entertained with his antics at the Christmas markets..... a big success in difficult circumstances with freak snow and ice, burst pipes, floods and Covid outbreaks but we go there in the end!

September - Autumn update 2022 - Summer fun has come and gone at Woolley Animals. We've had an amazing response to our new additions, lots of new and returning visitors and our tractor rides have proved very popular. Sadly we lost one or two animals this Summer. Tragically Duchess our 5 day old cria was affected by an insect bite and died of toxic shock. We've also had some new arrivals such as the nubian goat girls and the lovely Rhea who are still growing like weeds! You might think the animals are resting but we're still open weekends and school holidays and they're focussing on being awesome for our Winter activities, October half term and the build up to our Christmas season which will be bigger and better this year. Watch this space!

April 2022 - This lovely pygmy goat was born in early April, to mum Peggy Mitchell he is called 'Phil'. Sadly mum rejected Phil but he is now a firm favourite amongst guests and will not be going anywhere. See more of Phil's antics in this clip https://www.facebook.com/woolleyanimals/videos/974280109945465

Here's another girl rejected by her mum, she went to a lovely new home later in the month. https://www.facebook.com/woolleyanimals/videos/561319725317982

February 2022 - Cuteness overload! In December, we welcomed a new arrival to our canine gang. The beautiful black labrador puppy, Harvey Woolley - named after Harvester tractor. Harvey is only 3 months old and still finding his place in the pack but already a big hit with visitors where he made his debut in the dog display last weekend. We try and do the dog display in the middle of every day we are open. Come and visit us to meet them all!

January 2022 - we were contacted recently by a local lady who wanted to downsize her rabbit collection. Wow! these are Giant Continental bunnies and they are huge! They are only babies at the moment but growing fast. They will be resident here, not for sale and something for you to look at while you enjoy your picnic. For now they are inside the bunny barn but judging by the size of them they won't be in there for long! Watch out for our Easter name the bunny competition ....

December 2021 - Christmas 2021 also saw the arrival of a very special alpaca. Our thanks to Mullacott Alpacas for allowing us to have Quester, a beautiful appaloosa stud male who will hopefully become the sire of our future breeding herd. This little boy is only six months old and is currently getting used to our two little boys. He will eventually join the walking team for meet, greet and walking duties - he will be the stud boy when the girls are ready to mate next year. Welcome handsome boy!

Christmas Markets 2021 - Wow Christmas at Woolley Animals was amazing! We visited Rosemoor for the Children's Hospice Santa's on The Run which raised lots of money for charity. Every weekend and for three weekdays leading up to Christmas we had fun in the festive barn. You could turn yourself into a snow character, cuddle animals, take selfies with alpacas or just enjoy the crafts being offered by local crafting stallholders in the Christmas market. Of course there was cake and luxury hot chocolate, who doesn't need this at Christmas!!!

September 2021 - oh my goodness, this little cutie came to live with us! Meet Sid the sheepdog, a most welcome addition to the Woolley Animals flock and it's like he's always been here, he's fitted into the sheepdog demonstrations really well and the staff have fallen in love with him - like all the working dogs, this one is Stuart's little boy and will be trained for sheepwork, keep watching for Sid's adventures and to see if he grows into those ears!

October 2020 - Coming out of this awful year

2020 has been a difficult year for everyone. This year we lost 4 of our beautiful boys to disease, we were unable to launch our holiday let business on time and we couldn't welcome any visitors for nearly 6 months, it was a very difficult time for us. We know we are not the only ones who suffered but luckily we were able to make changes to our business to ensure that we survived, the animals didn't suffer and we are still around when things return to normal, whenever that is! on a more positive note, we filmed a documentary for #60seconddocs to show the value of alpacas as therapy, we experienced some very special moments with friends at North Devon Hospice and we welcomed lots of beautiful new lives to our animal family. you can find the video here:-
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=4038791212805697

September 2020 - Goats milk soap for sale

With kind permission of Myrtle the Goat and her owner Tracy, we are delighted to be working in partnership with The Dirty Old Goat Soap Company to produce beautiful goats milk soap using milk from our beautiful milking girls, Daisy, Bibi and Gypsy. Available to buy in our shop or call us on 01769 520300

Welcome to the family.....

August 2020 - we welcome the beautiful Morwelham Bibi and her nephew the beautiful Morwelham Red (he will be known as Gary). Bibi is going to provide goats milk. Gary is going to be our next stud boy.

We're back trekking....

July 2020 - leaving lockdown. We're back walking again and we've created a new brighter walking route. Still walking around our own land and woodland and lake setting but around a purpose pathway so that both you and the alpacas are happy and calm. Everyone so far has given it the thumbs up! - we walk throughout the year and spaces fill fast so call us as soon as you can 01769 520300

October 2019 - We have some very important news to share. Following our horrendous year in 2018 when we were struck down with TB and lost four of our beautiful boys we took the decision to voluntarily test our herd. Therefore, after receiving results we are pleased to announce that we are clear. This is a great step forward and a positive outcome for us. We've learnt so much on our TB journey. This disease has no cure and no vaccination at the moment. Unlike cattle, there is no requirement to test alpacas but we think it is the responsible thing to do. We look forward to seeing progress in eradicating this disease and having a vaccine available in the future.

July 2019 - Sadly, we have had some casualties this month. One of our beautiful Ryeland sheep and one of our favourite Valais ewes Brenda. Brenda was a beautiful Valais who always blessed us with amazing lambs. She had a cancerous tumour which we had been monitoring and had been retired from breeding. When she showed signs of pain we felt it was kinder to end her suffering. It's never an easy thing to do but it is the right thing..... RIP beautiful Woolley Brenda, you were one of the best and we won't ever forget you xx

June 2019 - here come the girls! We heard about little Calypso Katie (left) bred by our friends at Mullacott Alpacas. She was poorly at birth and needed vet intervention, sadly when she returned to her mum she was rejected. Mullacott Alpacas started bottle feeding her and then they realised that lovely Ninette was allowing her to feed with her own cria (Demi Bubbles). Nettie also had her cria from the previous year (Megan), quite the little family........so we bought all four of them! Watch for updates on their progress.....

April 2019 - Swiss Valais Blacknose Lambs are here! This year it's been all about the boys, firstly a beautiful chunky boy called Sweep (that's him on the right), then along came Lenny (on the left, Lena is his mum and we think he might stay here), then Wilbur was a 21st birthday present for Liberty (he's going to a great home locally), then the lovely Mickey (Minnie's baby) - hurray for this year's babies! - We will be saying goodbye to the Big Daddy of them all, lovely Warborne Eros (pictured with Stuart below) has been bought as a show ram and we'll be keeping an eye on his progress. We have waiting lists for rams, wethers and ewe lambs - contact us if you'd like more information on this very special breed of sheep - the cutest sheep in the world!

February 2019 - Woolley Animals is moving !

We are pleased to announce that Woolley Animals will be relocating in 2019 and will have more to offer. We won't be detracting from our current offer of providing small, tailored, animal experiences. However, if you want to stay a little bit longer, you can.... we are investing in a farm with a campsite and holiday cottages so that you can get really involved in farm life! It's just up the road from our current location in beautiful North Devon. We are aiming to be open later in 2019, watch our website and facebook page for updates.

March 2018 and the start of Spring lambing....

This is the start of our Spring lambing season and we are due to have baby lambs and goat kids around for a few months. We start with the Devon & Cornwall Longwools, it's our first season with these and the handsome Buster on the left is a lovely ram so we're hoping if his lambs are half as good as him they will be gorgeous! Day one, 20th March and lamb cam is on but nothing much is happening.....

March 2018 - Lambs v Goats

Earlier in the year we welcomed Harry Potter's lambs to use for bottle feeding. Lambs don't stay little for long and these little boys and girls went off to another farm to be reared on. In their place we have introduced the goat kids, Horace, Will-I-Am, Tom, Douglas, Stanley and Mickey, these little fellas know how to bring a smile to our guests faces. Come along to the animal experience if you want to meet them....

March 2018 - Goodbye to Alfie !

This month we said goodbye to our lovely pedigree pygmy boy Alfie. Alfie came to us originally to keep Anthony company and has done us proud. He is a stunningly marked boy with great horns who would do well in the show ring. We don't have time to show him and we felt he would be better in a home where he might have that opportunity. We are so pleased Alicia and her family agreed to give Alfie a 5* home in South Devon, we will miss his character but we're happy as we've heard he's already found a new girlfriend!

January 2018 - Building Work progress !

Our biggest objective for this year was to get the lamb shed finished in time for our lambing season. Mr Woolley has done a fine job building this shed in between all the other stuff he has to do! No sooner had we got it finished our neighbour asked for help to house some of his lambs for a few days so here is the progress and it's already in full occupation! This is where you'll meet some of our cutest new recruits....

November 2017 - Tupping time ....

Well it's tupping time again at Woolley Animals. All our boys and girls are very pleased to meet each other again. This year we are hoping for pedigree Valais Blacknose lambs, pedigree Ryelands and pedigree Devon & Cornwall Longwools along with some cross breeds. Here's a picture of our Valais ram Roger from last year preparing to meet his ladies. Roger is on standby this year and his friend Bob is taking a turn ..... Looking forward to some lovely babies from March 2018 onwards!

Alfie

Alvin

6th January 2017

Something exciting is happening in the paddock today, amongst the rain and mud, Dragon is hoping for new friends.....?

https://www.facebook.com/woolleyanimals/videos/1412266428804860/

4th January 2017

Owning a large number of animals means we get to see happy and sad times regularly. Stuart & I are very sad to report this week the loss of our lovely Pygmy goat 'Dec'. Ant & Dec, 6 month old twin brothers were fantastic characters, an important part of our animal walking team and have made a big impression on everyone with their antics, climbing on the shed and eating the flowers! Ant has become Stuart's shadow and we are making sure he gets lots of attention while we find him another friend.
RIP Dec, thank you for making us laugh! - Cathy x

17th December 2016

We're very excited today at little Teddy, just 3 weeks after arriving and he is walking beautifully on his lead. He came out for a full walk today with some lovely visitors and then spent the afternoon meeting and greeting new friends at Winkleigh. The kids there loved feeding him and he was a very good boy! Pleased to say he will be available for walking very soon... come and meet him!

27th November

Really exciting day when we brought home baby Teddy Edward. He is just six months old and just left mum so we will make sure he gets lots of love from us. He has taken a liking to Dartagnan which is really sweet and he follows him everywhere! Lucky people walking tomorrow will be the first to have cuddles with this gorgeous boy...

5th November

there may be fireworks everywhere but it's all good here. We've just introduced 3 beautiful Ryeland ewe lambs. These little beauties are resting in the orchard with Ant & Dec at the moment as the ram is in with the ladies. They will become part of our breeding flock next Autumn and they are cracking little cuties, come and meet them soon!

October 24th

Another great weekend at Woolley animals, A lovely walk and a 4 hour experience which included Red getting a bit confused rounding up the sheep! foot trimming and dagging some of the Swiss Valais. We met some lovely people who had a great time and said they will be back with their extended family

October 16th

We are very excited to announce the arrival of little Ant and Dec to the Woolley Animals walking team. so, if you are too little to walk an alpaca, don't worry the boys are waiting for you to take them instead! Like all our boys, Ant & Dec are available by appointment only.

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September 1st

Introducing the newest member of the Woolley Animals walking team, lovely little Fererro. He is a two year old intact male which we will be using in the walking team and showing around the county next year. Fererro is very calm, likes to be hand fed carrots and has a super soft fleece.

Call us if you would like to come and meet him.

Keep checking back for more news on more recruits!!

August 2016

We have bought 6 Valais Blacknose sheep the first flock that was imported from Switzerland in 2014. Thanks to Emma http://www.valaisblacknosesheepuk.com/

We also have Alpaca and Valais sheep cuddly toys for sale. Please email us for more details