Sanctuary Tails

For Two Life-Saving Cows, a Happy Retirement

By Leanne

When animals at the California Shelter require veterinary procedures that cannot be administered in our barns or hospital building, we take them to the University of California-Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, where they receive expert care in state-of-the-art facilities. We often rescue animals in dire condition, and many of them have undergone lifesaving procedures performed by UC-Davis staff. It is not only Davis’ veterinarians, technicians and nurses, however, who save lives at the hospital. Some special animal residents also do their part. For several years, two cows named Prissy and Knobby were among them, providing crucial aid to ailing cattle.

In 2004, Prissy, a Charolais was brought to Davis for a major operation to ameliorate a hip injury. She later became a blood donor there. Knobby, a Holstein whose original role at Davis was to teach veterinary students how to work with cattle, became a blood donor in 2005. A friendship grew between the two. They spent most of their time relaxing together and enjoying TLC from the staff, but when blood was needed for emergency transfusions to bovine patients, Prissy and Knobby patiently allowed their caregivers to extract donations from them. They were, of course, amply rewarded with treats afterwards.

After several years of saving lives, the time came for Prissy and Knobby to retire. The hospital wanted to make sure that these two special girls had a wonderful retirement, so they contacted us to help find a home where they could live in peace and safety for the rest of their lives. We were excited to be able to arrange for such a home: Sanctuary One at Double Oak Farm, a care farm in southern Oregon “where people, animals, and the earth work together for mutual healing,” and where some adoptees from Farm Sanctuary were already living the good life. We also gladly agreed to be Prissy and Knobby’s chauffeurs to Oregon.

So we drove to Davis to pick up the two retirees. Though neither had been in a trailer in a long time, they both calmly climbed up and settled in for their road trip. Starting a new life can be scary, but it helps to have your best friend with you: Prissy and Knobby stayed close by each other’s sides all through the journey. Upon arrival at Sanctuary One, they climbed down and immediately began exploring their new home together.

Now named Cookies and Cream, the cows are living it up among the horses, llamas, pigs, goats, sheep, ducks and geese who also call Sanctuary One home. Cream is fond of head scratches, and both girls love to lick treats from the hands of their caregivers, who are thrilled to look after these two who have helped so many others.

This is just one of the many happy endings made possible through our national Farm Animal Adoption Network (FAAN), through which we connect needy animals with safe, loving, permanent homes. The collaboration made possible when we work with the amazing individuals, families, and sanctuaries that make up this network, the largest of its kind in North America, magnifies what any of us could do alone. Together, we are giving the gift of a happy life to so many animals. If you’d like to learn more about joining FAAN, please visit our website today!

Remembering Larry

By Susie

Larry came to us when he was just a few days old, dehydrated and unable to stand. Buyers at an area livestock auction had deemed the weak, young animal worthless. We, of course, were of a different mind. We welcomed Larry to the sanctuary and immediately began nursing him back to health.

The feeble calf grew up to be a decidedly robust steer. When he was full grown, Larry weighed over 3,000 pounds. As big as that is, however, it was the size of Larry’s heart that most impressed everyone who met him.

Larry was a gentle giant. He knew his name and, until arthritis slowed him down, he would come to you when you called and follow you everywhere. He adored people and soaked up attention, even patiently allowing kids to drape themselves over him and wrap their arms around his neck. He was a true ambassador to all cattle.

Larry was with us for almost 19 years. He shared 17 of those years with his best friend, a steer named Kevin. As Larry grew older, he began to suffer from arthritis. This is a common ailment among aging dairy cattle; the industry breeds them for extravagant growth, and their bodies become too heavy for their thin legs. When Larry’s legs began to give him trouble, we moved him to our special needs herd, whose pasture is less hilly. We decided to leave Kevin with the main herd – he was still spry and assertive, and we feared he would be pushy with the special needs cattle. Kevin disagreed with our decision, however, and spent his days at the divide between the two herds, mooing and licking Larry over the fence. We finally caved and moved him into the special needs pasture, much to his and Larry’s delight. And much to ours, Kevin proved himself to be a gentle herdmate to his new companions. He wasn’t interested in pushing anyone around – he just wanted to be with Larry.

The duo spent the next three years together in their new herd, until the day we paid Larry our usual morning visit and found him, as we had found him all those years ago, unable to stand. His arthritis and hip degeneration had been worsening, and now we knew that even with the best medications available, we could no longer manage his pain. This was the end. We were heartbroken. We covered him with blankets to keep him warm until the vet arrived. All his friends were there to say goodbye, including of course Kevin, who stayed by his side as he peacefully slipped away.

I have never known another steer like Larry. Everyone who met him here loved him, and he loved everyone back. That was the tenor of his life. Gently, in everything he did, Larry delivered a potent refutation to the philosophy of those who had mistreated and discarded him. When he was small and weak, the people who had power over Larry used it to dominate and exploit him for gain. But when Larry had grown into a giant steer, he used his great power only to love. Not even his death can diminish the influence of that love on all the lives he touched.