Wednesday, August 23, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
29
Sanctuary saves cow from slaughter
By Jodi Schneider McNamee
Correspondent
Last March Harmony
Farm Sanctuary (HFS) in
Sisters rescued a baby calf.
When three-day-old
“Norman” arrived at HFS, he
developed scours and pneu-
monia, both of which are
major causes of young calf
death. Since he was a dairy
calf, he was pulled from his
mom at birth and did not get
the colostrum essential for
health and, often, survival.
“When a female dairy cow
is born she is a future dairy
cow but the male isn’t use-
ful so they either go to veal
crates, dog food companies
or livestock auctions,” said
Robine Bots, founder of HFS.
The calf was put up for
auction and Harmony Farm
purchased him and brought
him to the sanctuary in
Sisters, a safe place for res-
cued and adopted animals
where rehabilitation is pro-
vided when needed.
Norman made it through
and is now thriving!
Just last week Bots
received the news that Joan
Miller, a retired animal
behaviorist from Terrebonne,
needed a safe place for a
12-year-old dairy cow to live
in peace.
“I went to buy hay for my
horses and stopped at a local
farm by my house. I was
looking at the owner’s cattle
and their babies,” Miller told
The Nugget. “The farmer told
me that the 12-year-old dairy
cow that just weaned her last
baby was going to be slaugh-
tered in a couple of days. He
said she was old for a dairy
cow and had been producing
babies her whole life.”
Once dairy cows are so
worn out that they have pro-
duced all the milk they can,
they are sent to slaughter —
yet the average natural lifes-
pan for a cow could be as
long as 25 years.
“I just needed to try for
the rescue,” Miller said. “I
couldn’t bring her home, so
I contacted Harmony Farm
Sanctuary.”
The “mama” cow is a
black and white SimAngus
weighing in at 1,300 pounds.
The price to purchase a dairy
cow is usually $1 a pound.
Miller got the price dis-
counted down to 70 cents a
pound. HFS needed to raise
$900 as quickly as possible!
“We raised the money in
less than 24 hours between
Facebook, Instagram, friends
of the farm, and 3 Sisters
Equine Refuge,” Bots said.
3 Sisters Equine Refuge
is a charity founded in 2014
to provide rehabilitation,
retraining and placement for
equines.
“Rescuing animals is a
team effort. We have part-
nered with 3 Sisters Equine
Refuge during a few other
rescues and we support each
other in our fundraising and
other efforts,” Bots added.
The dairy cow’s useful-
ness may have been gone to
the rancher, but luckily for
her she has an opportunity
to live out her useful life at
Harmony Farm Sanctuary.
“I realize I can’t save
the world, but I can make a
world of difference in the life
of this sentient being,” Bots
said.
One of the goals of HFS is
to raise consciousness about
the treatment of animals that
people use for food. And
another goal is to spread
compassion for all beings;
human and animal.
Volunteers helped guide
Miller’s trailer into the small
pasture. Once the trailer door
opened mama cow sauntered
out.
Her udders still full of
milk hung low to the ground.
“We don’t think she’s
ever been handled and she’s
only seen other cows or dogs
before,” said Bots.
PHOTO BY JODI SCHNEIDER MCNAMEE
Harmony Farm Sanctuary rescued a dairy cow from slaughter.
The other farm animals
came as close as possible
within their own areas to
have a look see at the new
kid on the block.
Norman, the calf who
since his rescue has been
befriended by two goats,
Petra and Buck, walked cau-
tiously up to his gate to see
just who this new arrival was.
“To all of you who sup-
ported our cause to rescue
Mama Cow, we thank you
from the bottom of all our
hearts. Here she is getting
introduced to Norman the
calf that volunteer Michele
Lynn rescued for Harmony
Farm Sanctuary at two days
old from the auction,” said
Lene Banke-Fornalski.
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