Heartland Happenings

Sunny-the-rooster

MollyBee — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:13:50 +0000

Sunny-the-rooster watched him for a while and then dug himself a hole in straw in the goat stall, stretched out and tried the breakfast in bed thing himself. What a goof.

Sonny is Mr. Personality. He is such a character and so social. He runs 40 miles a shift following us around from chore to chore, ‘supervising’ and ‘talking’ the whole way. He had surgery on Friday to remove an infected area of his waddle and comb. We have to rub some healing ointment on his stitches. When I did it on Sunday, he closed his eyes like it was a spa treatment. He was right back in the swing on things though. What a little trooper!

Lazy Llama

MollyBee — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:13:25 +0000

It was so gorgeous at the farm the other morning; sun, warm, no wind. The animals were all just sucking up the nice weather and lazing around in the sun beams. When it came to lazing though, Thor took it to the extreme. He decided to lay down and eat his breakfast.

Breakfast in bed.

The funniest part was when he finished the hay in his little area, he’d scoot on his belly, commando style, until his face met up with some more serious eatin’.

Breakfast makes him smile. He was one happy llama.

Toby The Taster

MollyBee — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:12:24 +0000

It’s not difficult to take an adorable picture of Toby when he’s across the stall and doesn’t realize you’re there. But the minute he sees you, he heads in your direction out of curiosity and an intense desire to kiss you and be snuggled.

Here he comes.

“Hi Whatchoogutder? Camera? Come close! I geeve you good close up”.
(Seriously! That’s how he talks! With a cheesy French accent!)

“ Ha! Fool you! I keese you camera! Smooch! Smooch!”

” I also keese you hand, you face…whatever you got…Give it here!’

In the end, a good picture is not the best part of the Toby experience. You’ll walk away a little soggy, but you’ll feel like a rock star!

Valentine’s chocolate, hand-delivered by…a goat?

cherylbreuer — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:37:27 +0000

Valentine’s Day is less than a week away, and love is in the air at Heartland Farm Sanctuary. Clark, Anna, Cherish, and all the other Heartland animals want to show how much they appreciate your love and generosity by offering to hand- (hoof?) deliver some delicious chocolate and a framed certificate to your special someone, when you purchase a monthly animal sponsorship between now and February 15. If your Valentine is outside of the Madison area, we will gladly send the chocolate and certificate by mail. Monthly sponsorships start at just $20 a month, and provide the animal of your choice with a safe barn, green pasture, quality food, veterinary care, and plenty of attention from our caregivers and the other animals. In addition to the chocolates and certificate, your Valentine will also receive a photo of the sponsored animal and a write-up of that animal’s special story. Sponsors are also invited to visit our barn, and see how their donations are being put to work. To arrange for this special Valentine’s Day delivery, please contact Dana at 608-219-1172 or dana.barre@HeartlandFarmSanctuary.org. (Offer expires 2/15/12.)

About Heartland

jstarzewski — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 23:52:59 +0000

Heartland was created to provide a safe, peaceful environment where youth and farm animals could come together to heal, grow, and have fun. Click on the video above to learn more about our history and mission.

Born To Run

MollyBee — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 16:52:50 +0000

This morning at the farm, we took Anna and Cherish down to the big back pasture for the first time. They had previously been in a small yard off the side of the barn that would shelter them a little better and confine them a bit while they healed and gained strength. It was a chore getting Anna, the mule, down to the new pasture. Sarah, the barn manager, led her, but as you can imagine Anna was more than a little scared and all kinds of excited to be in a new place and took poor Sarah ‘off-roading’ a couple of times before she finally went through the pasture gate. Cherish, the horse, is much more subdued than Anna. She’s had a longer journey to get back to ‘healthy’ . But even she stopped in her tracks a couple of times at the prospect of all of that wide open space, and had to be persuaded to move forward. Once she got through the gate and saw all of the field grass she commenced munching and was happy as a clam to just amble about sampling the different plants. Anna, however, was ecstatic. She ran in big circles in the pasture, kicking up her heels and trying to entice Cherish to play with her. [This involved Anna charging Cherish and nipping her butt. Cherish would just give her a 'For-the-love-of-G*d-Anna-can't-you-see-all-of-this-grass-I-have-to-eat? I'm-busy! Bug-off!' look and resume perusing the buffet. ]Then Anna would come back to the gate and stand in front of us for a minute as if to say, ‘Did you SEE how fast I was going?!’ Then she’s take off again for another lap around the field. After being neglected and keep in a too small enclosure, having untrimmed hooves that prevented her from even walking properly and then confined for health recovery, this was the first time in her life (she’s about a year old) that she was allowed to run! The absolute JOY was written on every part of her. Brought tears to my eyes. I can’t think of a more significant way to begin 2012. May all of us find the simple things that give us unrestrained joy in the New Year!

Anna and Cherish Update

MollyBee — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 16:47:19 +0000

Today’s entry is a little update on Cherish and Anna. These two came to us suffering from SEVERE neglect. Cherish, the horse, had broken her hip and been discarded and nearly starved to death. Anna the mule was also starving, on top of being kept in a too small enclosure that wasn’t tall enough for her to fully lift her head . She had never had her hooves trimmed so they laid out on the ground in front of her feet about 8-6 inches, impeding her ability to walk correctly. They were both covered with sores and infested with parasites. They were both about as big a train wreck as you could get and still be alive. But look at them now!

Anna’s hooves were trimmed back much more quickly that was originally thought possible and her legs are getting stronger every day. After slowly being reintroduced to food, they both have gained weight and have been given the meds they need for parasites and pain.

You looking at me??!?!?

You looking at ME!!!!!???

I think Anna looks just like a female moose in the face. But she is 100% mule and then some lemme tell ya! She’s the epitome of stubborn and not above kicking and biting to get what she wants. In fact, in my experience, she would just as soon bite you as look at you if you are just standing in her general vicinity, but if you give her an apple slice, you can put your whole arm in her mouth up to your shoulder and she does this ‘rubber lip’ thing like she would never dream of biting you. After starving for so long, both girls are VERY food oriented. It’s not that Anna’s mean. She’s just a mule. And if I had been through what she’s been through, I’d be standing up for myself too! You just have to care for her with that understanding or you could end up getting hurt. Hopefully as she continues to learn about the people who care for her and trust us more, she will calm down a bit.

Cherish’s pretty blond mane was originally braided to keep it out of the open wounds on her neck but I think it’s a good look for her! She still has a significant amount of rain rot, which is a fungal skin infection from not being kept dry, but it’s slowly clearing up . She is a beautiful girl; very gentle and loving.

I so admire this pair. They embody the true meaning of survival. They are the essence of what Heartland Farm Sanctuary is all about !

The Great Possum Debaucle of 2011

MollyBee — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:48:19 +0000

I got to the barn last night and went in the water room to check on the cat, Miss Leroy, first. I worry about her; she’s such a sweety but is deaf and getting up in years so I always pop my head in her ‘bedroom’ and make sure she’s OK. She was there alright. She was cuddled in her open cat bed on the work bench…right beside her enclosed cat bed which contained… a possum! He was all snuggled down in the assorted blankets that are stuffed in there, toasty as could be. They both blinked at me grumpily in the glare of the bare, overhead bulb, no doubt trying to telepathically tell me to turn the light back off so they could get back to their slumber party.

I am one of those rare folks who thinks possums are finorkin’ adorable. They can’t help it that their tails look like that. I went and got a cat crate and put it gently up to the opening of the enclosed cat bed and tried to entice the possum into the carrier by crooning compliments about how cute he was and how I wasn’t going to hurt him. He immediately put his wrist dramatically to his forehead, swooned, whirled twice, eyes rolling back into his head, and collapsed into a heap in the blankets, playing dead (or ‘playing possum’ …if you will). If you have never seen this, I strongly encourage you to go scare the crap out of one and watch. It’s hilarious! ME: Come on Mr. Possum, get in the cat carrier so I can take you outside and set you free. POSSUM: No. I’m obviously dead. Have a little respect. ME: Come on now, you can’t stay in here. Other people aren’t so accepting of your kind. POSSUM: Nope. Still dead. Besides it’s cold out there. ME (changing tactics): Get in the cat carrier or there will be a rake or other farm implement involved! POSSUM: Move along. Nothin’ to see here. And the EMMY goes to…! He even had his little mouth partially open, drooling. Clearly he had played this gig before. I finally fixed his little, red wagon by tipping the entire cat bed up on it’s end, thus sliding him to the bottom, threw a towel over the opening so he couldn’t attempt any Vampire Possum shenanigans and lugged the whole works down to the compost heap. The way things go in my head and the way they go in real life rarely match up. I set the carrier down with visions of him taking one sniff of all that garbagy goodness and scampering happily away. Not so much. The lure of the crocheted woobies and other assorted, soft, blankets in the warm, enclosed cat box was too strong. He wouldn’t budge. Still dead. So I unceremoniously dumped his fuzzy butt out. The ‘Thank-you-kind-lady-for-not-impaling-me-with-a-hoe-and-instead-setting-me-free-to-continue-my-wonderful-little-critter-life‘ moment I anticipated didn’t happen. What I actually got was a ‘Seriously? Sheesh-lady-we’re-only-40-yards-from-the-barn-like-I-can’t-find-my-way-right-back-in-there-the-nanosecond-you-leave‘ look before he bumbled, huffily off. So… in review…Awesome Possum? Lost ‘im! Possumectomy successful! I now I can add ‘Marsupial Removal Specialist’ to my resume of oddities!

Thor: Overseeer of All

MollyBee — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 16:50:17 +0000

I worked every day of my Christmas break at the farm since I couldn’t get home to Maine this year and volunteers who live around here have families and stuff.

It wasn’t hard to go every day since Santa brought us this little present. This is 4 week old Tobias Valentino (Valentino for the heart on the top of his head and forehead.) He eats from a huge baby bottle and loves to jump around and play. Then when he gets tired, he snuggles and suckles and kisses. What a sweetie! Nope it wasn’t hard to go in at all…in fact, it was difficult to leave him. I was putting feed hay out in the back enclosure so that I could let the llamas outside on Sunday. There is no grass in the pasture now that it’s winter so we put 3-4 pats out and scatter it around for them. I felt like I was being watched. There is a hunter guy that roams the fields a lot and I thought it was him…I looked all around and nothing….and yet….I still had that weird feeling. It wasn’t until I finished with the hay, was brushing off my jacket and turning to go inside that I realized who my supervisor was;Thor…watching me from the plastic- covered, barn window to make sure I got every last piece of hay off my jacket and into his pasture for him to eat. All I could think of was that ‘Weet, weet, weet’ suspenseful sound/music things that they put in movies. You know…like when you’re going to get stabbed while you’re in the shower….

WEET!

WEET!!

WEET!!!

I hope you all had as wonderful, peaceful and gratitude-filled, Christmas break, as I did, and that you are looking forward to welcoming in 2012 next weekend! Happy Holidays!

Cherish & Anna Update

Bob Cravens — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 00:21:04 +0000

Your Help Is Still Needed!

On Friday, November 18 2011 Heartland Farm Sanctuary rescued Cherish (a 2 year old female horse) and Anna (a 2 year old female mule).

The good news is that our veterinary costs will not be as high as first expected. Thanks to you we have been able to cover most of Anna and Cherish’s immediate care costs. But the road to their recovery is long and we will encounter many more expenses as treatment continues.

If you would like to give a tax-deductable donation for their rehabilitation, you can DONATE ONLINE or stop by any branch of Summit Credit Union and donating to the Cherish & Anna Urgent Care Fund.