Iowa Farm Sanctuary

11/03/2024

Zeke has been hospitalized for months and he is finally ready to make the transition into sanctuary life!

Later this week, Zeke will be discharged to come home to IFS and we simply cannot wait! But Zeke has racked up quite the bill being in the ICU for so long- he is easily the single most expensive bill we’ve ever had at the hospital.

If you’re in a position to donate, we will need to pay off Zeke’s bill in order to bring him home and we can use all the help we can get! Help us bring Zeke home!

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Your support makes transformations like lil Zeke’s possible!💚🙏

10/31/2024

Angel: the undisputed queen of Halloween. 🎃

10/30/2024

All the hugs, kisses and cow slobber from May to all of YOU! You all helped us raise nearly $5k toward our match in just ONE day- that is absolutely incredible!!!

We’ve still got just over $8k left of our match- can we do it with just ONE day left?!? If anyone can, it’s our IFS family.

Here’s the deal:

**Give Warmth**: $6 (1 straw bale)

**Give Nourishment**: $9.50 (1 hay bale)

**Breakfast in Bed**: $14.50 (1 bale of hay + 1 bale of straw)

**Breakfast in Bed for 2**: $29 (2 bales of each)

Every bale counts, and your generosity makes all the difference!

To Buy Breakfast in Bed for Phill and his friends click the donate button, Venmo: or PayPal: [email protected]

10/29/2024

BREAKFAST IN BED FOR PHILL AND FRIENDS- MONTH LONG MATCH ENDING THURSDAY!

Friends, we still have over $12,000 up for grabs from our amazing matching donor!!! This is a rare opportunity to have every dollar you donate DOUBLED- BUT TIME IS RUNNING OUT!

Can we secure our full match in just two and a half days? We can with YOUR help! Please consider buying a bale or two TODAY!

*Just $14.50 provides one bale of hay and one bale of straw!*

And remember, with our matching donor, every bale you buy will be doubled!

Here’s how you can help:

**Give Warmth**: $6 (1 straw bale)

**Give Nourishment**: $9.50 (1 hay bale)

**Breakfast in Bed**: $14.50 (1 bale of hay + 1 bale of straw)

**Breakfast in Bed for 2**: $29 (2 bales of each)

Every bale counts, and your generosity makes all the difference!

To Buy Breakfast in Bed for Phill and his friends click the donate button, Venmo: or PayPal: [email protected]

10/28/2024

Sanctuary looks good on Phill, dontcha think?

Gentle reminder that our Breakfast in Bed campaign and our donor match ends in just THREE DAYS! 📆

Buy a bale for Phill and our matching donor buys one for Jane- easy peasy lemon squeezy! There is never a better time to donate than when every gift is doubled.💰💰

Will you help Phill and his friends make it through the long Iowa winter ahead? He would be so grateful!

10/27/2024

Sweet Rudy is surprising his care team at the hospital and giving us all a huge sigh of relief! Rudy’s doctors have reported that he is doing such a great job at keeping the weight off his incision that they don’t even need the sling to hoist his leg up! Good boy, Rudy.😭

Tomorrow Rudy will go back on the table to have his first post-op bandage change and we will be anxious all day until we get the report of how his wound looks. Fingers crossed we’ve got healthy tissue and everything in its place.🙏

Rudy’s foot mold arrives to specialized pet solutions tomorrow and the team there will be working expeditiously to get Rudy’s custom prosthetic foot made and mailed off to us.

Thank you to everyone who sent ideas for helping Rudy make it through this tough time and to everyone who is cheering him on- we cannot wait to get our Rude Boy home!

10/24/2024

👻 HALLOWEEN STROLL THIS SATURDAY 10/26 👻

It’s not too late to grab your tickets! Admission is just $12 for ages 11+ and $6 for kiddos 10 and under. Bring your family and friends and join us for a very special, spooky, and wildly fun Halloween Stroll at sunset this Saturday, October 26th, from 4:30-7! As one of the most unique Halloween experiences in the corridor, you don’t want to miss it! 👹

This event will feature hay rack rides and a sunset stroll around the sanctuary on our haunted one-mile-long nature trail. Volunteers dressed in costume will be stationed throughout the route to introduce you to our rescued residents, hand out candy, and provide jump scare entertainment. Plus, NEW this year: Chuck-A-Punk! We will have pumpkins for a $5 donation—choose to smash one for our residents to enjoy or take it home with you! 🎃

Costumes are strongly encouraged! We can’t wait to get spooky with you! 🤡

TICKETS HERE: https://www.iowafarmsanctuary.org/event-tickets/2024-halloween-stroll

10/22/2024

Breakfast with the Buffy’s. 🧇☕️

We’ve got less than 10 days left of our Breakfast in Bed fundraising match- have you donated breakfast for Phill and friends yet? Every donation is DOUBLED by a super generous donor, this month only!!!

Please help us keep our residents warm and bellies full all winter long.💚🙏

10/20/2024

1. Phill is doing great and is LOVING the late season heatwave.🔥

2. Peep our website for a lil restock of Phill merch! 👕

https://www.iowafarmsanctuary.org/apparel

10/20/2024

A friendly reminder from Binx: Our Sunday Strolls are done for the season and we are closed. Time for us to prepare for winter around here. ☃️

If you missed your opportunity to come to a Sunday Stoll this season, consider getting tickets for our Spooky Stroll, happening next Saturday evening- it’s sure to be a hauntingly great time!👻

10/19/2024

Ok, can we talk about how sweet and sassy Dot is?!

ICYMI: This lil piglet, Dot, saved her own life by escaping a semi cruising down the highway. In the high speed tumble to freedom, Dot severely fractured her femur right at the growth plate and had to have two surgeries to repair the break.

But look at Dot now, all attitude as a piglet should be! Her care team sent us these photos and reported they were nearly impossible to capture because Dot doesn’t stop moving! We are so relieved that this lil gal is on the mend.

AND Auggie is also doing well today, recovering from his pulmonary edema yesterday. Phew! What a relief!

10/18/2024

This $5 Friday is for our boy, Auggie.

Earlier this week we dropped Auggie off at ISU for a routine cleaning of his airway. Auggie was born with a condition called hypotrichosis which is responsible for his lack of hair, lack of teeth and potentially other underlying congenital issues that have caused him a hiccup or two in his 4.5 years with us.

Iowa State did a swallow study on Auggie yesterday and found that his muscles in his throat aren’t working normally. They are intermittently paralyzed at times which is causing food to go up into his nasal passage instead of down his esophagus into his stomach.

As they were attempting to clean his nose out this morning, his airway temporarily “collapsed” causing him to have flash pulmonary edema. They were able to treat him with a couple meds right away and have oxygen flowing in his stall right now. They are going to watch him closely for the next 24 hours in case he has another episode.

We feel so terribly that Auggie was his happy, normal self when we dropped him off, and now he’s on oxygen and fighting for his life. For those who don’t know Auggie, our staff and volunteers will tell you he’s not only our smartest resident, he’s also a “class clown”, a space invader and a friend to all. This photo was taken the first day we brought baby Binx home- while all of our other residents were either avoidant of Binx or tried to haze him, Auggie went quietly into a stall with him, said hello and simply laid with him quietly, as if to say, “it’s ok, I’ll look out for ya!” That is who Auggie is.

Please send Auggie all your well wishes, the next 24 hours are critical. 🙏💚

10/18/2024

Some coverage of Carl’s 5k and Phill the water buffalo.

Thanks Michael Admire for visiting!

OXFORD, Iowa — Early Sunday morning, in the small quiet town of Oxford, Iowa, a 120 acre sanctuary comes to life. “The mornings are probably the best time,” Jered Camp, co-founder…

10/17/2024

Carl would be SO proud! We’re still reliving the incredible time had this past weekend at Carl’s 5K and Fall Fest! The event was a smashing success; except for the intense winds, it couldn’t have been more perfect.

We’d like to send a special thanks to the following people and businesses—we couldn’t do this without y’all!

⭐️Participants and guests, in-person and virtual! We had a record number of registrations to date this year! Woohoo! 🏃‍♂️

⭐️Bass Farms L.L.C. for the generous donation of pumpkins. 🎃

⭐️Orgain for the generous donation of protein powder samples for our participants. 🌱

⭐️Veggie Reaper, Envision Positive, The Crystal Forestry Project, Camp Creek Organic Produce, Humble Baking Project, Food & Water Watch, and Healing Earth Crafts for being our outstanding group of vendors. 🛍️

⭐️Our very own volunteers Jennifer and Sarah for running the show and bringing this event to life—from the planning stages, to behind the scenes coordination, to event day execution….they made it happen! And the time they spent cannot be understated. ❤️

⭐️And last but not least, the rest of our stellar volunteer team who worked the event and ensured an enjoyable experience for all! ✨

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you all for coming together to raise funds for the residents and honor Carl’s legacy. We can’t wait for next year! 💚

Please post more photos y’all have from the day in the comments! Whether you participated near or far, we want to see them! 📸

10/15/2024

Friends, please help us officially welcome baby Binx to the IFS fam!

After precious May lost her son, Chip, during childbirth last week, we made the bittersweet decision to expeditiously take in a newborn Holstein. May had so much love to give and such a maternal instinct towards her son, we hoped that we could help heal her grieving heart, with another baby boy who needed her love.

That’s where Binx came into the picture! Though May is still warming up to the idea of an adopted son, Binx is all in on May and the rest of his sanctuary family. He is cautious yet brave, silly yet smart and we’re just totally smitten by this lil guy.

To give Binx the **warmest** welcome, would you consider sending $6 for a bale of straw to keep him warm all winter long? Every single donation towards our “Buy a Bale” campaign is being matched this month, meaning that every dollar you donate will be DOUBLED!

Thank you all so much for loving Binx with us and for showering May with the love and support she needs to get through the devastating loss of her child. Your support means everything.

10/12/2024

Please join us for a special announcement💚

10/11/2024

Meta only allows a certain amount of words per post, and it’ll never be enough for what happened here on Tuesday night.

Above is a photo of May from yesterday. She was happily chewing her cud in a beautiful ray of sunshine and in that moment I think we both felt grateful that she was alive. A complicated childbirth can kill a human woman even with all the luxuries of modern medicine. May gave birth to a breach baby, in a barn stall on a bed of straw.

May also survived the dairy industry. Her body will never again be forcefully impregnated, forced to carry a calf that she will never get to care for.

Mays mother is 7 years old- still at the dairy, presumably pregnant.
May’s 1st child, Tay- passed away last winter here at IFS.
May’s 2nd child- a daughter- still at the dairy, presumably pregnant.
May’s 3rd child- stillborn at IFS.

Chip was May’s chance to finally be a mother. May’s mother and daughter will never get that opportunity. The dairy industry is just a tragedy to families, it’s like a true Handmaids Tale.

We’re on day three without Chip and May is still crying out and looking for him….

I am begging you, please consider who your food choices are hurting. For you it may be a simple slice of cheese, for May, it’s her whole family.

10/08/2024

LAST CALL to join in on the fun at Carl’s 5K and Fall Fest—THIS Sunday, October 13th! It’s right around the corner; we can’t wait!

While registration for the 5K is officially full, we are still happy to offer spectator passes for purchase! With this pass, you receive:

>Entrance to the event 🎟️
>Opportunity to cheer on the participants and interact with our rescued residents 👏🏼🐐🐮
>Cinnaholic cinnamon roll, cider, and pumpkin painting 🎃
>Access to our vendor booths for more food and fall shopping! 🛍️

Gates open at 9:30am with the event wrapping up around 1pm. Please note—our gate will be temporarily CLOSED from 10-10:30am for the safety of our participants during the event, but will reopen. So plan to arrive before 10 or after 10:30. 😊

Grab your spectator pass here: https://runsignup.com/Race/Info/IA/Oxford/Carls5K

10/08/2024

Time for breakfast in bed!!!!🧇☕️🛌

Thank you to everyone who has purchased Breakfast in Bed for their favorite IFS resident so far- with your help we’ve raised over $2,000 to keep our residents warm and their bellies full this winter.

And the best part? Every single donation has been DOUBLED by our incredibly generous matching donor‼️That means your purchase of Breakfast in Bed for one, instantly becomes Breakfast in Bed for two-Your $15 donation goes 2x as far.

Please, please, please, help us meet our match and keep our residents warm and cozy this winter. Everything we do is made possible because of folks like YOU! 💚🙏

10/03/2024

Hello friends! We wanted to share an update on our brave little piglet, Dot. Today, Dot underwent surgery for a very severe femur fracture near her knee. Due to multiple fracture points, the procedure was more complex than anticipated. The skilled veterinarians at Iowa State Large Animal Hospital performed a cross-pinning procedure to stabilize the main fracture. However, because of the multiple smaller fractures, her leg isn’t as stable as we hoped. Our hopes were to avoid pins and plates, but due to a number of complex factors, this was the absolute best option for Dot.

Despite this, Dot is in good spirits, eating well, and recovering comfortably. The pain medications Dot is receiving are marshmallow flavored and they’re her FAVE! Our veterinarians are cautiously optimistic but remind us that Dot’s not out of the woods yet. There’s a possibility she may need further surgeries, but we’re hopeful and committed to providing her with the best care possible. Dot will stay in the hospital for the next week or so that way her veterinarians can monitor her progress after the surgery. They will be doing follow up x-rays soon to make sure the pins they placed are staying in the locations they need them to be.

Thank you for your unwavering support- rescues like this are truly only possible because of your incredible support. Please keep Dot in your thoughts as she continues her recovery journey. We will keep you updated on her progress!

09/30/2024

Same desires, different destinations. 💔

Not long after we tucked injured baby Dot in for her road trip to the hospital, we were confronted by the very reality of her near fate. A semi filled with piglets, just as tiny and innocent as Dot, next to us on the interstate. Where are these piglets going? Common industry practice is for piglets to be weaned at a mere 21 days old before being transported to a fattening facility—where they spend the next few months growing to the desired slaughter weight. 6 months is typically the age at which their life is taken from them.

We are relieved that baby Dot at least has a chance at a full, happy life—despite the huge uphill battle she faces. But for every “lucky” piglet like Dot, there are tens of thousands who aren’t. Modern animal agriculture is a vicious cycle with countless victims. Consumers hold power to change the system which relies on supply/demand. Mass breeding these animals solely to be raised for food is far from natural, ethical, or humane. We must do better.

09/30/2024

🚨Emergency Intake🚨

Yesterday, Iowa Farm Sanctuary welcomed a tiny newborn piglet, Dot, who fell out of a moving semi at highway speeds. 💔 Unfortunately, the road rash and bruising are the least of her issues- she has a completely fractured femur and needs immediate medical treatment at the hospital.

As we care for Dot, we can’t help but reflect on the harsh reality that led to her being loaded onto that truck in the first place. Why was this innocent life destined for such a fate? What did she do to deserve this? What emotions does this evoke in you? We urge you to think about the cruelty behind factory farming and the lives that are often overlooked in the pursuit of profit.

Together, we can make a difference. Dot’s unexpected intake has left us in urgent need of support for her emergency care. If you feel moved to help, please consider donating to ensure she receives the treatment she desperately needs. Every little bit counts in giving her a chance at life and healing.

Let’s come together to advocate for compassion and a world where no animal endures such suffering. 💚🙏

09/24/2024

Yesterday was a big day for Phill, Sal and Jane!

First thing in the morning, the three pals took the short trip to our vet for the last little hurdle before being integrated into our big herd- neuters and a pregnancy check!

Both Sal and Phill were intact and needed to be neutered. And of course, since Jane has been living with these gentlemen, we wanted to do an ultrasound to make sure there wasn’t a baby on board.

All of the procedures went well- the boys are already back to chewing their cud and Jane is baby free! Once Phill and Sals incisions heal fully, all three will be introduced to our big crew, and more importantly, they’ll get to go for a late season swim!

***Thank you again to everyone who ordered Phill merch- we anticipate it’ll be restocked next week!***

09/22/2024

It’s Sanctuary Stroll Sunday! 💚

Come on out enjoy our beautiful sanctuary and connect with our rescued residents, like Chance!

Please take a moment to read a few important notes before the event:
🪲 It’s that time of year, y’all—BYO bug repellant! HIGHLY recommended!
🌷 Our gates will open at exactly 1:00PM; we know you’re excited (yay), but please don’t arrive early!
🐑 We know how much you love them, but please leave your furry (non-human) family members at home.
🌱 Vegan drinks and snacks are welcome; out of respect for our rescued residents, please leave any non-vegan food and drinks at home.
🐮 When you arrive, please visit Buddy’s Boutique to get checked in; if you bought your ticket(s) in advance, please be ready to tell us the name they were purchased under. If you’ll be making your admissions donation at the door, we ask $12 for adults and $6 for kiddos! Treats to offer our rescued residents are available for purchase as well!
🐷 Please wear comfortable shoes that you don’t mind getting a little dirty!
🌈 For more information or to purchase tickets in advance, please visit the following link: https://www.iowafarmsanctuary.org/visit

See you soon, y’all! 🐔

**Sanctuary Strolls are a weekly opportunity (Sundays 1:00-4:00PM) to visit our beautiful sanctuary, explore our nearly one-mile-long unpaved walking trail, and interact with our rescued residents along the way!**

**Thank you so much to Cross Park Rd Hy-Vee for generously donating produce for our rescued residents to enjoy during the event! 🌱**