A V.I.P Dairy Farm Experience

Cows, Dairy Cows, Farm Sanctuary, Mother cows and their babies 9 Responses »
Oct 272011

How amazing this life is.

I’ve just spent the last two hours writing a blog and got all the way to the end, when something happened that made me realize what I was really writing about.  And then I sat in silence and looked out my window and saw four glorious turkey hens walking through the leaves that have fallen in my yard.  They were coming from the feeder I have for them out back and making their way to the sanctuary out in the woods where I have their water and a mineral lick.

Now, to tell this story….

I’ve been away from my blog for a while — choosing, instead, to focus my time on writing my novel.  But today I was moved to reconnect with you good people, who share a love of animals, so I went looking for something to share.

I found it amidst my daily Google alerts on one of the subjects I follow, Cows.  The headline read ”Drums Woman Spends Day in the Life of a Cow” and then a brief summary followed, The contest offers winners in each of the association’s six regions a 24-hour stay on a working dairy farm, where they were “treated like a cow” – a reference to the pampered life led by modern dairy cows.

OK, did I really see the word “pampered” referring to the lives of modern dairy cows? Continue reading »

Mama Red and Clan are in Trouble

Animal Rescue, Cows, Farm Sanctuary, Mama Red, The Gentle Barn 10 Responses »
Aug 082011

Mama Red and Baby Boy and Baby Girl

It started two long weeks ago with a phone call from my brother, Jamie, on whose farm in South Carolina Mama Red and her one-year-old twins (Baby Boy is beside her and Baby Girl on the ground) as well as her steer from two years ago live.  And when I say “live,” I mean these animals can ride out their days there until they die.  For Mama Red and Baby Girl, this means being able to stay alive vs. at around age 8 or so, being taken to slaughter where they make hamburger out of old mama cows.  For Baby Boy, though, this means being able to live past age two, when he would be considered at his prime for steaks and roasts, etc.

This is unheard of, this freedom to live out their days.  Continue reading »

Farm Sanctuary's Gene Baur Delivers Hope

Animal Rescue, Farm Sanctuary, Gene Baur 6 Responses »
May 052011

Farm Sanctuary's Gene Baur in Nashville

Big words from the leader of the nation’s biggest farm animal sanctuary yesterday in Nashville.  Gene Baur of Farm Sanctuary told an audience of some 50 people packed inside a vegan restaurant, “There’s a shift underway…We’re in the midst of a food revolution right now.”

Meat consumption, he says, is down and has been since 2008, forcing the meat industry to look for international markets.  This, despite numbers that are staggering.  Ten billion farm animals are killed each year for us to eat.  Ninety percent of that number comes from chickens. Continue reading »

Farm Sanctuary's Gene Baur In Nashville May 4th

Animal Rescue, Billy O, Cows, Farm Sanctuary, One Good Mama Bone 9 Responses »
Apr 112011

Gene Baur and Opie

Meet Gene Baur and his good buddy, Opie.

Almost two decades ago, according to published material, this cow, then a tiny calf no more than a few hours old, was abandoned and left for dead at a stockyard in upstate New York.  He was a dairy industry discard too weak and sickly to even stand.  He lay helpless in an alleyway, where few signs of life emanated from him — let alone any indication of the magnificent creature he was destined to become. Continue reading »

Billy O is on to a New Life

Animal Rescue, Billy O, Farm Sanctuary 6 Responses »
Dec 292010

Is this where that writer lives who loves animals?

I like to look at the very first picture I ever made of Billy O.  I was in the kitchen making coffee and heard this unfamiliar sound outside.  I looked out the back door and saw this creature with a cocked off head  looking in at me.   In my mind, he was asking, “Is this where that writer lives who loves animals?”

I hope he knows the answer is YES.

After sharing his life with me for four special months, Billy O left out of here a couple of hours ago.  Left in the back of a covered pickup truck, bound for Hohenwald, Tennessee, a tiny community about an hour and a half south of here.   Left with a wonderful lady who loves animals as much as I do — and that’s saying a lot.  Left to go live on a 200 acre farm with nine goats and two cows and I forgot how many horses and two dogs.

Continue reading »

Change in Store for Billy O

Animal Rescue, Billy O, Farm Sanctuary 12 Responses »
Dec 282010

He's always watched.

Billy O has always watched.  He likes to stand on the front porch, near the top step, and look out.  I’ve never known what he was looking for.  But he’s definitely looking.

Tomorrow morning, about this time, he’ll see a new vehicle drive up.  It’ll be pulling a trailer, one small enough for a goat.  Billy O is getting a new home, down an hour and a half south of here in a wonderful town called Hohenwald.

Continue reading »

Of the Highest Order

Animal Rescue, Billy O, Farm Sanctuary 2 Responses »
Nov 182010

So I was on Facebook a while ago and saw where an organization I love, Farm Sanctuary, had posted a link witha headline that knocked me out: “Goat Knocks on Good Samaritan’s Door.”    http://www.farmsanctuary.org/mediacenter/2010/pr_sacramento_goat.html

Seems that out in California, a goat one day out of the blue was trying to get inside this woman’s house.  Around the goat’s neck was a chewed rope.  Whoa, I was thinking — Do goats do this a lot?  Show up at stranger’s houses and insist on coming in?  This woman says the goat knew he would be safe there.  I get the same feeling from Billy O.  It’s like he’s home.  My Mom always said we can fool people, but we can never fool animals.  This is a gift that Billy O has given me.  It’s of the highest order. Continue reading »