Thank you, thank you, thank you so much to everyone who has so kindly donated money towards fly fringes for the elderly donkeys. We have been able to purchase 300 fly fringes already and the donkeys are really benefiting from having fly free faces.

We are also very grateful to those of you who have taken the trouble to send in fly fringes that you are no longer using.

I thought you all might like to see our latest fly protection invention... Anti Fly Leggings!

Some of the very old and frail donkeys suffer from the flies biting their legs. These poor donkeys have to have their legs cleaned with antiseptic wash and covered in fly repellent cream every day and then covered with protective bandages. This treatment is costly (for the cream and the bandages) and time consuming for our vets and the grooms.

The new Anti Fly Leggings have enabled the donkeys' legs to heal and the fine mesh material prevents further attacks. They are made out of a stiffened mesh stitched into a tube that is fine enough to stop the flies getting through and flexible enough so that the donkeys can move around, lie down and get up without restriction. They are fastened with Velcro and have a fleecy edge to the mesh to stop the donkeys being rubbed sore.

Blackie is modelling the first full set of leggings at Paccombe Farm and Kate who is pictured with her told me that they have already made a huge difference to the lives of the elderly donkeys in her care.

Related article

Our elderly donkeys need help urgently