The Friend's Newsletter
Winter/Spring 2008

Follie's Story
Follie is a miniature Pigmy , and she stands only fifteen inches tall. Follie has very long strands of brown and black hair , and certainly holds the record of being our smallest goat ever. Her stature and size being such , that she walks around with a permanent crick in her neck , caused by continuously having to look up at her elders.
Because of this she doubtless , from a very early age learnt that to succeed in life she had to be prepared to stand on her own two feet . This she does quite literally. All you have to do to get her attention is to put a fisted hand in front of her face. Then up she will go , balancing on her hind legs and charges. The other day she quite obviously woke up feeling that she ought to put the world to rights , and regardless of shape or size was more than ready to express to everyone just how she felt.
Arthur , one of our largest male goats , white , very gangly in the leg , and stands with his head almost level with ones shoulder , but a real softy by nature , was suddenly confronted on the narrow path by this long haired female. Follie had decided that small that she may be , she had every right to have sole use of the path , and regardless of size or height of anybody that may confront her , no body else was going to move her from it. Leaning forward with all of her four feet firmly set on the ground , and with her head down like a bull about to charge , just her eyes moved , defiantly looking up.
Arthur , so as to bring his head down to Follies level was doing a Bambie style stance with his front legs. With his nose , he touched the top of Follie’s head. That was it , enough was enough. Up on her back legs she went . “Head Butt” first , ask questions later was her motto. Arthur , somewhat taken aback , defiantly stood his ground taking head blow for head blow , and then realising the stupidity of the situation started to treat this mad female with a somewhat chauvinistic attitude , and just stood there taunting her , which of course made Follie all the more defiant.
It could be seen that Arthur was thoroughly enjoying the situation and was teasing Follie along , but then after a few minutes feeling that enough was enough , he took a few steps back and then sprang sideways throwing his hind legs up into the air with a defiant kick and ran off into the field.
Follie however was not daunted by this encounter and looking around soon spotted Muffin coming towards her , Muffin is one of our long haired , wide horned , male Angora’s. Horns mean very little when you are trying to tell the world who’s the boss , and straightaway little Follie goes up on her hind legs into the attack . Muffin having less patience than Arthur straightaway decides to have nothing to do with such antics and with an almost nose in the air attitude brushes by her . Follie like most ladies when snubbed by members of the opposite sex , was determined on this occasion not to be ignored.
As Muffin passed by she took a sudden and unexpected lunge between his hind quarters , leaving her then standing all alone on the path , triumphant , with a large mouthful of Angora hair protruding from either side of her mouth. After spitting copiously , and feeling inwardly rewarded after her the boss , and straightaway little Follie goes up on her hind legs into the attack . Muffin having less patience than Arthur straightaway decides to have nothing to do with such antics and with an almost nose in the air attitude brushes by her . Follie like most ladies when snubbed by members of the opposite sex , was determined on this occasion not to be ignored.
As Muffin passed by she took a sudden and unexpected lunge between his hind quarters , leaving her then standing all alone on the path , triumphant , with a large mouthful of Angora hair protruding from either side of her mouth. After spitting copiously , and feeling inwardly rewarded after her actions she then decided to let her little world continue in a more peaceful and tranquil manner , wandering off into the Park , no doubt feeling that it had been a good start to the day!

Dental Appeal
In December 2006 we launched “The Dental Appeal” to enable all the goats in the Sanctuary to have a free dental check. We were overjoyed at the generosity of our “Friends” and over the year donations have continued to arrive through the post. To date the appeal has raised £1840 . This has enabled every goat in the Sanctuary to have dental attention . Some had back teeth taken out due to decay or being loose , and most had their back teeth filed to remove the needle points that had arisen over the years , due to grinding. This care not only makes it more comfortable for the goats to eat but also allows them to grind their food more effectively , and will in turn , provide them with a greater longevity of life.
In past Newsletters we have told you about Rosa , a Golden Guernsey , who came to us in a terrible state from a City Farm. She had a large growth , gum infection , broken teeth and deformed jaw. Thanks to you , from the funds raised , we were able to give her an immediate operation to remove the growth and infected front teeth. Due to the success of this we were then able to provide a second operation to reduce her overshot jaw . Rosa has now fully recovered and is once again able to enjoy a normal life , and looking at her you would not think that she had once had such a deformed mouth.
For us to continue with this specialised care , especially for the needs of the older goats and for all the new goats that come to Buttercups , we have decided to continue with this specific appeal, if you should once again like to give this your support.

Bedtime!
Going to bed at night is very much the same as the night before. The routine of going to bed , I should imagine , must be very much the same as for young children , many like to stay up for as long as is possible and find every excuse for doing so. At the Sanctuary , some like to see who can be the last to take the last mouthful of hay from the hay rack , or just wanting to pretend that they are going into the stable block at the last moment kick their hind legs into the air , and go skipping off into a totally different direction. This type of juvenile behaviour is best ignored , and ones efforts are best concentrated on those who are more sedately behaved and are quite content to find the comfort of a warm bed. In time , the delinquents see the sense of their betters and thinking that they must be missing out on something special enter their stables only to find that the doors are quickly shut behind them.
All having been fed and watered , and a last check of the stalls made to make sure that everyone is where they should be. For it has been known before now that Mr…. has crept in behind Mrs… and are both seen laying down beside each other , looking up somewhat sheepishly ……. but that another story.!
On this occasion , a group of five pigmy goats with white and brown facial markings , having arrived only a few days previous , were , upon checking their stall , now found to be only three!
Oh dear , more delay , I was so looking forward to my tea , only sixty pens to re - check. This done and no extra bodies found , the next stage was to check outside in the dark , to see if anyone was standing around the hay racks . Still nothing , so out came the large torch with the powerful beam and off for a walk around the field to check the perimeter fencing. Having quickly done the circuit and found nothing , panic started to rise. Did I make a mistake counting them , better double check all the pens again , no , still only three on their own , check across the field , again , nothing.
Walking away , did I hear a distant , plaintive cry. Stop and listen , yes there it was again , a very sad and lonely call in the darkness. Going back into the field and shining the torch beam slowly round , I could see looking through the fence , two brown and white frightened faces , eyes wide open, pleading not to be left out in the dark. Then knowing that they had been noticed started crying to be rescued. Fortunately there was a gate close by and they were , on this occasion , only too happy to make their way back to be with their companions.
Needless to say , that on the following day a full and thorough inspection was made of the fences to ensure that no further attempts could be made for more day time explorations.

A Cautionary Tale
Due to the owners ill health , we were recently asked to take into care , three elderly pigmy goats. Collecting them from an address in the centre of town should have given us some indication of what to expect. Going through the house to reach the back garden I found the goats in an enclosed walled area about thirty feet long , no grass and lots of mud. Their housing consisted of three small dog kennels , just large enough for a small goat to lay down in and bedding of old soiled saw dust
All three were dearly loved by their owners but were obviously being kept under the wrong conditions. We were delighted when told that we could take with us a complete bag of meal , but somewhat taken aback when we found that it was a bag of rabbit mix. That night the new goats all slept together for the first time , all huddled in a corner on a bed of thick clean straw.
The following morning they were of course somewhat overwhelmed by the sheer number of other goats that they found around them , and even more so , of the limitless open space. For the first few days they seldom left their pen , but as the days went by they became more accustomed to their surroundings and started to venture forth , and to make new friends. From the beginning , our problem was that they would not eat conventional goat food , only rabbit mix , and so we continued with this , adding into it each day a little goat mix to try and get them accustomed to a proper diet. It was even difficult to get them to eat hay , which normally all goats love to eat.
From a very early stage , all three started to have health problems . Each of them experienced eye infections , but we were soon able to rectify this problem with medication , and all seemed to be well. They then started to show flue symptoms shivering and showing abnormally high temperatures , and so we had them under Infra red heat lamps and on more antibiotics.After about four weeks at the Sanctuary , we were all shocked to find , that overnight , one of them had died. This upset us all greatly as the volunteers had all given them extra care and attention , brushing and combing , and giving them “Hands On” to make them feel safe and secure.
A week later , another died overnight , and throughout the following week the third seemed to slowly give up the will to live , and although everything was done to encourage her , she too passed away.
We have never experienced this situation at the Sanctuary before. We therefore requested our vet to do a post mortem. The outcome was that it was probably due to them having received an inadequate diet throughout their lives. Rabbit Mix would have had an imbalance of minerals that goats would not normally be used to , and this had affected their immune system. A clear example of cruelty through ignorance.
To this end , in conjunction with the RSPCA , Buttercups is happy to provide a free booklet on “Goat welfare and care”. If you would like to know more about looking after goats , then please let us know and we will be happy to put one in the post to you , or available on our Open Days.

Hay Baler
Many thanks to all of you who have sent donations to help with the purchase of “Baler”!. The new hay baler is now on order , and should be with us in time for the new hay season.

The Birthday Present
One of our Supporters recently celebrated her 90th birthday , and realising that she had all the materialistic things in life , thought that she could put the event to greater good. She asked that her family and friends instead of buying her presents should donate to her favourite animal charity .
When the big day eventually arrived we also provided a display of “Buttercups” merchandise.
Everyone went home with a little something and raised some £300 towards the goats upkeep. What a wonderful idea and so much appreciated. Thank you

Open Days
Open Days start again from Sunday May 4th from 1pm to 4pm. through to October. (The first Sunday in the month). We are sorry that we cannot be open earlier in the day but not only do we have to make everything ready for you , our guests , but also keeping to our routine chores of cleaning out and looking after the goats.
We sell bags of chopped carrots and biscuits so that you can to feed the goats. Gifts and other merchandise will be on sale and the “Support Group” ladies will have the tea urn going all the time. Do bring your friends and while here get them to “adopt a goat”

MoD Appeal
Controversial tests on goats for military research have stopped after a long campaign against the experiments. The Ministry of Defence has agreed to abandon deep-diving tests in which goats are put into pressure compartments to produce levels of decompression sickness.
All future research work will be carried out by computer simulation and by drawing on the results compiled since testing began at the labs in Gosport in 2001.”
Buttercups have been asked by the MOD to take the majority of the herd into care , and to find new Foster homes , for up to 28 goats. These range in age from 2 to 8 years , male and female. We are therefore urgently looking for good homes within the Kent and East Sussex areas. All homes under our “Fostering scheme” are vetted for good housing and grazing and to make sure that fencing is secure. Strict guidelines are required as to their care and management , and annual visits are made to verify their continued good health.
If you live within our area can you help , or do you know of anyone who would be prepared to give some a good home. Remember that taking on goats is a long term commitment , maybe 12-14 years , or more , and arrangements have to be made for holidays etc.
Further details are on our website www.buttercups.org.uk together with an application form .

Ending on a lighter note;.
We are indebted to all of our volunteers who come in to help on all occasions . On Christmas day , wanting to be at the Sanctuary early , and on time , one of our volunteers rushed around the kitchen preparing the Christmas dinner. Did the necessary to the turkey and put it into the oven before donning her wellies and waterproofs.
On her return home she prepared the vegetables , and then , when all was ready she went to the oven to look at the turkey , only to find that the oven was empty. She told the children off for larking about and asked what they had done with the Christmas dinner. After blank stares and denials she started to hunt around the kitchen.
Only to find that in her haste , instead of putting the turkey into the oven , she had inadvertently put it into the fridge. Well , we all make mistakes !!