01/09/2024
Today I write with a heavy heart about the departure of our wonderful greeter and farm ambassador Dolly Moo. Dolly left the sanctuary on Friday August 30. She was peacefully put to sleep after a few days of pain caused by a twisted gut. She was 15.
Dolly was born a twin. Her brother was a holstein calf and she a heifer. In the dairy industry if a heifer is a twin she is usually infertile. For those not aware --a cow is impregnated so that she can produce milk. If a calf is born ( male) he is ripped away from his mother almost after birth. She cries and looks for her baby. He is either killed---sent to a feed lot or prepared for veal. The female shares the same fate.. So when you drink milk think of this poor mother cow made pregnant to produce milk for a baby that she never cares for ..
I needed hay and my farmer could not deliver one day. So I went to the farm to pick up some bales that would hold me. When I arrived there was a line up of hutches with baby heifers in them. They were so cute and responsive to me. But one in particular jumped and carried on as I spoke to her. Later that day I told the farmer that I enjoyed playing with the babies especially the one at the end. He told me that she was a twin. Explained the facts and that she was going to be sent off. She was a useless heifer.
I have always loved cows. They can be so loving and curious. At the time I had my Greta a Holstein and Barney a Jersey steer. When the farmer said she was useless I looked at him and said" not to me. I want her" The rest is history. Tomorrow she will be buried in her enclosure . I'm in a better frame of mind today. Yesterday a part of me was ripped away. It's like that when you see them as living breathing beings not things to exploit. My Dolly is gone from this earth but like so many who have left in the past--she is not gone from my heart. RIP my girl . You were loved by many.
