Ethical.
We believe…
Our little flock should live long and happy lives just like you or I. Below you’ll meet our four legged family members.
Early on in our island life we learnt that every Spring there are many orphaned lambs, and that crofters (Crofting is a form of land tenure and small-scale food production particular to the Scottish highlands and islands) are more than happy to give those orphaned lambs to someone willing to spend the time and money required to keep them alive and in good health.
From left to right: Bubble, Nori, Popcorn, Dot, Matrix and Kelp. Who is hiding??
So...
…after a conversation one evening on that very topic, followed by a good few weeks filled with lessons in lamb stuff, Noah, Bubble, Popcorn, Kelp, Nori, Dot and Matrix arrived, the first of our fluffy flock. If you are going to start with one, you may as well start with seven.
Rocky finding his legs…
A year later and lambing season was upon us again. We just couldn’t help ourselves, we kept on falling for those wee helpless faces… Sometimes you have to say yes and figure out the rest later, they all deserve to live long and happy lives. Not content with “just” taking in healthy orphan lambs, we decided to go one step further and become a mini lamb hospital.
Rocky was first followed by Athena. Round the clock care and lambs inside wearing nappies became the new normal. Soon we had 6 healthy new chunky lambs roaming our gardens. A few months later they joined Popcorn, Matrix and the others in the big field, one big happy family…
“Sometimes you have to say yes and figure out the rest later…”
This is Kelp. She’s the wise one.
“We think our little flock is awesome”
We think our little flock is awesome. Not only are sheep far smarter than most people think (even though they can do the silliest things, like getting stuck in fences, and need rescuing from time to time…), they are all unique, each with a quirky personality.
Their antics range from fence jumping (Matrix) to horse-like back rolling (Kelp) and puppy-like following around all day (Popcorn).
You can see more about their daily lives and read more sheep facts on our Facebook and Instagram feed and stories @welan.tiree.
Meet Popcorn - he loves a good hug
Lambs that think they are little woolly humans
Our little flock were all bottle babies. And, bottle fed by hand, not with a machine or other contraption. Five to six times a day, trying our best to be a two legged substitute for their lost parent. Two at a time, a bottle in each hand, whilst reassuring them that everything will be OK. The end result, we now have 12 sheep who think they are little woolly humans, which is fine by us.
Noah, Bubble, Popcorn, Kelp, Nori, Dot, Matrix, Rocky, Adrian, Athena, Serg and Pepper are not your typical flock. These lambs are here to stay, we’ll never send them off the island to be slaughtered, or breed them, because we feel they deserve to live out their natural lives. However, this poses a challenge. How to keep them, give them the best care, and even take on more orphaned lambs each year, without bankrupting ourselves.
Say Hi to Dot and Matrix - If you’re old enough you’ll get the joke.
Everyone loves a woolly hat
There must be a more sustainable, a less final way that sheep can help to support themselves and us. A more meaningful way to ensure we can take on more orphans.
Sure enough one day when out on a windy Tiree day, bottles in hand, it hit us. “Woolly hats”. We now have a small field of potential woolly hats that regrow every year, well, let’s face it, everyone loves a woolly hat and we love our sheep.
We want our sheep to live long, very long lives, they are part of our little family. It’s all well-and-good having the idea. The hard bit is now make it happen, we hope you’ll join us on the journey.
Strong believers in natural remedies and healthy nutrition, we add lots of herbs to their diets, which removes the need to give them drugs that we’ve been told and also read aren’t as effective as they once were.
“A recent document released by the British Veterinary Association (BVA guidance on the use of anthelmintics in grazing animals) states that "in some areas the emergence of multi-drug resistance is such that the only options remaining to clients are to both clear the land…”
extract from NADIS website. Author: Phil Scott DVM&S BVM&S CertCHP DSHP DipECBHM FRCVS Reviewed: Phil Scott DVM&S BVM&S CertCHP DSHP DipECBHM FRCVS 2017 Published: 2010
Noah, nothing gets between him and his food except the offer of a rub behind the ears.
Garlic and Oregano
We must have the only sheep on the island who love the taste of garlic and oregano. Weekly helpings of a mix of 9 herbs seem to really help the gang maintain great fleeces They’ve grown strong and healthy and their fleeces are super fluffy!
If you’d like to find out more about the flock and what they get up to, follow them and us on instagram @welan.tiree or sign up to our newsletter.
Sometimes sad things happen
Orphan lambs can have a rough start in life, if their mother doesn’t have any milk or they get rejected they can miss out on important nutrients that make them healthy and strong. One of our lovely lambs, Jeff, sadly succumbed to pneumonia. It truly broke our hearts that we weren’t able to save him.
Sheep are naturally very good at keeping any sign of illness under cover, in case there are predators around. That means once the signs are finally there as they can’t hide it any longer, it’s often too late to do anything. Jeff will always be in our hearts.
Giving back, helping others
A sense of place
Making our woolly hats isn’t easy. It’s been about learning things the long, hard and sometimes stupid way. We believe the hard work translates into ethical, local and lasting results.
We hope it’s a story that inspires others to move to the Isle of Tiree to live and work.
For over 10 years the little island we live on has seen a steady decline in population and economic opportunity. As well as our desire to be a meaningful small cog in a bigger change to ethical and sustainable methods of doing and making. We want to make a meaningfully contribution to our island community and help answer three broader challenges facing the Isle of Tiree. We believe with your help we can:
Reverse the continued population decline specifically in working age Tiree permanent residents
Provide (non-seasonal) private sector employment opportunities – (Careers not Jobs)
Build accommodation for those who want to make the Isle of Tiree their permanent home, wherever they come from.
We hope our story and experiences motivate people just like you to breathe new life into skills that have been albeit forgotten. We want you to become a story which inspires people to try new and innovative things on Tiree.
By owning a WELAN Woolly you will enable others, just like you, to be a positive change doing great things that make for a happy and healthy life on Tiree. That’s WELAN’s, Tiree Made.
You can read more out how we made the move to Tiree here
In addition to our own investment in the day-to-day creation of opportunities within WELAN we place 10% of our profit into our WELAN® Tiree Made island fund.
That 10% is to be used to help more orphaned lambs just like Bubble, Nori, Kelp, Popcorn, Noah, Dot and Matrix. It’s also to help other people to move towards their own inspiring life on Tiree.
What is TIREE MADE™? It’s a collective fund that is open and transparent. A fund enabling, people and places which:
creates island centric projects that serve as a catalyst for positive change
supports people in remote communities
and evolves environments for a sustainable future
If you are thinking of making a life changing move or would like to be kept up-to-date on career opportunities at WELAN and other island business that feel the same way we do please get in contact with us. email: jason@welan.co.uk
