Shoofly Farm,Virginia

Every year we anxiously await the dragonflies arrival to our farm. As you can see they busy themselves eating all the pesky flies and gnats. Dragonflies are mother nature’s blessing to horse farms ❤️🐴❤️ #animalsanctuary #horserescue #dragonflyseason #dragonfly

Our Sanctuary is open to the public to visit for free every Saturday through September, 9 am to 1 pm. Fishing is catch and release and you must bring your own bait and pole. Help support our animals and purchase a horse ride, $15 or a Hayride $5. If you enjoy your time here consider making a donation. All money goes directly to the feed and care of the animals of Shoofly. We accept cash, card, Venmo and CashApp. Visitors entrance is 5031 Treely rd. Chester. #animalsanctuary #horserescue #rvafamilyfun #farmlife

The newest additions to our duck flock Bonnie and Clyde and Blue’s 3 precious babies all enjoying the “kiddy pool” section of the pond and pasture. It makes sense for Blue to limit her ducklings to the shallows but many people are surprised to learn how cautious Pekin ducks are. Bonnie and Clyde do enjoy swimming but it is limited to their personal pools and the shallows of the pond as an act of preservation. Pekin ducks can’t fly and their bright white feathers make them easy pickings for predators, they are highly domesticated breed with few survival skills so staying in “safe zones” is how they do it! #ducks #ducklings #animalsanctuary

To all our visitors who want interaction with our pigs, specifically our big boy Pumba here, this video is for you! This is how to get time with our pigs. So come visit us, we are open every Saturday from 10 am to 2 pm, admission is free and it gets you up close and personal with our animals just like this. Most of Shoofly’s residents are rescues and we’ve worked very hard to rehabilitate them and get them to trust humans again and you can be a part of that beautiful mission! If you can’t make it out on a Saturday contact the farm and schedule a private visit on the weekdays! Visit ShooflyFarmVirginia.com for more info and to contact us for a private visit! #animalsanctuary #rescuepigs #horserescue #farmlifebestlife

Pig interaction at Shoofly

To all our visitors who want interaction with our pigs, specifically our big boy Pumba here, this video is for you! This is how to get time with our pigs. So come visit us, we are open every Saturday from 10 am to 2 pm, admission is free and it gets you up close and personal with our animals just like this. Most of Shoofly’s residents are rescues and we’ve worked very hard to rehabilitate them and get them to trust humans again and you can be a part of that beautiful mission! If you can’t make it out on a Saturday contact the farm and schedule a private visit on the weekdays! Visit ShooflyFarmVirginia.com for more info and to contact us for a private visit! #animalsanctuary #rescuepigs #horserescue #farmlifebestlife

We moved the herd from the farm pastures to the green pastures of our 50 acre ranch for spring and summer. It was a long fall and winter but it was worth it to create this patch of paradise! #animalsanctuary #horserescue

Pigs-1 Goats -0 - The goats were so excited anout the fresh straw but while they were out playing that day the pigs were hard at work stealing it all to make their beds grander.😆😂 #rescuepigs #animalsanctury #farmlifebestlife #goats #

We had plans to keep little Jasper (a sick mini-donkey we rescued a few weeks ago with Chief who sadly couldn’t overcome his illness and passed after just 6 days here with us.) When that door closed another opened and we had the opportunity to rescue another donkey we’ve named Eko, which means strong and resilient. Eko is only 2 and though he needs some weight on him we have hopes he has a long beautiful life ahead of him. Welcome to saftey, love and light Eko, welcome to your forever. #animalsanctuary #rescuedonkey #horserescue #killpenhorses #whitedonkey

Sebastian is the latest addition to our farm family and we can’t wait to share him with our community, he is the sweetest most level headed puppy who’s sole desire is to be in someone’s lap. He’s a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and after undergoing training he will be used for therapy visits both at the farm and offsite. Welcome to your forever Sebastian ❤️❤️❤️ #cavalierkingcharlesspaniel #animalsanctuary #animaltherapy

Update: this event is now canceled, for further information please see our most recent post. Thank you! Celebrate the season with us on Saturdays in December! Our Holiday Ho-Ho-Hoedown will be December 2nd, 9th and 16th from 11 am to 3 pm. Get your tickets at the gate, $10 per person, 3 and under are free and families of 5 or more pay a flat $50 entry. We accept cash, card, Venmo and CashApp. All our activities are included in admission to the farm! Enjoy a visit with Santa up in our iconic barn, snuggle with animals in our petting pasture, take pictures with, or on, our gorgeous Holiday Horses and take a ride on our enchanting winter wonderland hayride complete with inflatable holiday scenes, music and snow! You can stay warm by sipping hot cocoa and roasting s’mores by our fire pits while you shop the food and boutique vendors. All money raised goes directly to the animals of Shoofly. This is our final fundraiser of the year and is critical to have enough funds to get us through the winter months ahead so please please plan on visiting Shoofly this holiday season knowing you’ll have a memorable time and will be helping a great cause! 5031 Treely rd. Chester, VA Shooflyfarmvirginia.com

It always makes us feel good when we get a re-homed horse because that means we took one more horse out of the grasp of the kill pens. Kill buyers like the Stanley brothers have 3rd party buyers infiltrating all corners of the equine industry snatching up un-wanted or cheap horses from unsuspecting owners. Many people believe all the horses at kill pens were knowingly surrendered or sold to the kill buyer when reality is far too many kill pen horses had good homes with owners who intended to sell or re-home their beloved companion to a new family only to be scammed by the horse slaughter industry. It’s an evil practice. We are so grateful Diego’s family was very careful and thorough in their efforts to ensure this was not his story. Please if you own a horse and need to re-home them do your research on the buyer, visit their facility or home, get references and a first right of refusal contract that binds them to not selling or giving the horse away before alerting and offering them back to you. These horses are worth doing some due diligence to ensure they get their happy ending. Thank you to Diego’s family for loving him so fiercely and doing what was best for him. Welcome to the Shoofly Family Diego! #horserescue #animalsanctuary #morganhorse

This is our newest addition to Shoofly Farm and she’s here to pull for Haunted Hayrides, she’s a beast. High Thrill nights are here every Friday and Saturday nights in October from 7 pm to 11 pm. Tickets at the gate, $20 , all proceeds benefit Shoofly’s non-profit horse rescue and animal sanctuary. More details on our website www.shooflyfarmvirginia.com #hauntedhayrides #rvahalloween #rvahaunts #horserescue #animalsanctuary

Our sweet rescue chick Honey Dew has developed something called Wry tail with Roach back ( think severe scoliosis) you can see it best in the beginning of this video. The good news is this will neither effect her longevity or quality of life and is not painful. It is simply cosmetic. However if she were at a breeding or production farm she would be culled for this. Her life would be forfeit because she looked different. But around here it’s just more proof she belongs as many of our rescues have genetic or injury induced “flaws” and a severe deformity does not change how absolutely adorable she is just like our sweet Ruth here who is partially blind. All belong here at Shoofly, all are welcome, all are loved unconditionally. #animalsanctuary #rescuehens #polishchicken

Help Louie get the care he needs!

This week we are launching our fundraiser for Louie, one of our rescue horses. We need to raise $5k to cover the procedure he needs and all the transport and aftercare costs associated with this life-altering treatment. Please watch and share this video detailing Louie's unique needs and why we need your help. We have a very generous donor willing to match every donation we receive this week! So if you think your $10, $20 or $100 donation is not enough think again, every dollar helps AND when it is matched by our donor it is worth double what you give! Donations can be made by clicking on our PayPal links for either Ranshaw Ranch, our non-profit branch of Shoofly, or directly to Shoofly Farm if you are not concerned about the benefits of a tax-deductible donation. Checks can be made out to either Shoofly Farm or Ranshaw Ranch and addressed to Shoofly Farm 15101 Branders Bridge rd, Chester Va 23831 If you wish to donate another way like using a card over the phone please DM us to set this up. Links to Paypal and Venmo information can be found below and again THANK YOU! Helping these horses is only possible because of the generosity of our community! https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/ranshawranch https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/shooflyfarm Venmo @ranshawranch or @ShooflyfarmVa Venmo verification code is 1229 #rescuehorse #horserescue

Ruth and Honeydew are the best of friends. Ruth is our partially blind chicken who stays in a private walled yard for her protection, otherwise she will wander into the road or into the woods where we originally discovered her sick and starving a year ago. Honeydew was found by a busy road and brought to us as a young chick about 2 months ago. Honey is healthy and hyper and can fly over the enclosure wall ANY time she wants but she chooses to stay with Ruth. We are so glad these two rescues have each other, it makes our sanctuary that much brighter and better! #animalsanctuary #rescuechicken #horserescue #pigrescue #animalrescue #farmsanctuary #chickens

Ruth and Honeydew are the best of friends. Ruth is our partially blind chicken who stays in a private walled yard for her protection, otherwise she will wander into the road or into the woods where we originally discovered her sick and starving a year ago. Honeydew was found by a busy road and brought to us as a young chick about 2 months ago. Honey is healthy and hyper and can fly over the enclosure wall ANY time she wants but she chooses to stay with Ruth. We are so glad these two rescues have each other, it makes our sanctuary that much brighter and better! #animalsanctuary #rescuechicken #horserescue #pigrescue #animalrescue #farmsanctuary #chickens

We all have rough days, we are still trying to figure out what made Pumba’s not as ideal as he wanted it 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️. We love this #rescuepig so much, he’s just so full of personality, we can’t imagine the farm without him. #animalsanctuary #pumbathepig #rescuefarm #horserescue #farmlifebestlife #roughday #goatlifegoodlife #piglife

Atlas is putting on the right kind of weight and we are so excited. Our sweet rescue colt had a terrible and deprived start to life in the kill pen but we are determined to not let that affect his future. He is doing excellent learning his manners and is still as cuddly as ever! Hard to believe hes 9 months old already! #rescuehorse #rescuecolt #horserescue #animalsanctuary #farmanimalsanctuary

Raspberries 🥰 #chickens #farmlifebestlife #animalsanctuary

Hoof trimming for the pigs

Pigs need their hooves and sometimes tusks trimmed every 6 months. It’s essential care but sadly many owners overlook this aspect of their pigs health. As you can imagine, with pigs being hardwired for flight mode trimming their feet could be a serious challenge but not for our group! Our farrier uses the Mohr Method where she quickly flips them on their backs and once there they begin to relax. Pigs are incredibly smart so when they realize they are safe they don’t fight it. Also many pigs like the vibration of the tool and it can be like a little foot massage! Big Thanks to Swan Swine Services, Harley always does an exceptional job! #pigrescue #rescuepigs #animalsanctuary #hooftriming #swanswineservices