Fat & Happy Rescue

18/02/2025

Wishing Taylor Hawkins’ namesake a happy heavenly birthday 🩵

01/02/2025

As you may recall, we took in two 10-day-old calves back in October, Eddie Vedder and the little peanut that we are introducing today.

He is the sweetest little boy. 3.5 months later, he’s still shy and not fully trusting - unless you come with milks. He always is the first to answer the milks phone! (the lyrics Drake meant to sing…)

I knew from jump what his name was going to be; it’s a very special one. What I didn’t know was how hard it was going to be find lyrics for this introduction. This artist has written SO MANY songs, not only for themself but others as well. So there *should* be a wide breadth of choices…. What I never realized was all of the lyrical subject matter is inappropriate for introducing such an innocent soul. So, we resort to just two words, but they say it all.

Dearly beloved.

Welcome to Fat & Happy, Prince!

31/01/2025

Annie teaching Taylor and Chrissy how to properly play with your food. They don’t share her exuberance.

26/01/2025

A few weeks ago, we learned of a sanctuary that needed to close due to very unfortunate life circumstances. They were just a few weeks out from moving from the property, and still did not have placement for five cows. Tim is acutely aware of our cow to land ratio, and had already felt that we were at our limit (nearing, IMHO). But, we knew we wanted to help, that we needed to. So, we agreed that we would but that these will be our last cow intakes.

Our livestock trailer would not fit five adults, and we do not have the extra time to make two trips to PA, so we hired a transporter. He picked the boys up at 10:30 am yesterday and then his truck broke down three hours into the trip. After a 7-hour intermission, they were back on the road and arrived safely at 10:30 last night.

❤️

22/01/2025

BIG DAY at F&H! Pasture #3 was completed!

20/01/2025

Some of you that are astute online detectives may have noticed that the snout we teased a few days ago does not belong to Robert Redford.

Before we learned about Robert Redford, I had found a 4-month old male pig that was being rehomed because his friend had passed, and the owner didn’t want him to be alone. Given that was exactly the situation we were in with Fabio, we knew it had to be.

We had left the trailer at VA Tech when Tyson went in for diagnostics, so Tim picked up this little nugget when he drove to get the trailer last Sunday. Tim put up some temporary fencing within Fabio’s paddock and we had a second pig house built (they were so fantastic that they got it done in 5 days and it’s a perfect match to the one we already had). So now we can take our time with the boys acclimating, which is going great so far. And hopefully in the next week or so, Robert Redford will be able to join the boys outside.

Welcome to Fat & Happy, Benedict Cumberbatch!

19/01/2025

At F&H, we have two paddocks for the pigs - Christie, Cindy, and Iman are in one and Tyson and Fabio the other. When we lost Tyson, the absolute last thing I wanted to think about was another pig. I really felt like it was going to take me some time to really unpack the prior nine days. But, I couldn’t forget about Fabio. He had never been by himself before. As brothers, every day he has been in this world was spent with Tyson. Work is extra crazy for both Tim and me, so it’s not like we can just say we can get outside more during the days so he can have companionship and interactions.

I know nothing about pig introductions and in being honest with what I can and can’t take on right now, I knew this wasn’t the time to set the world on fire with a challenge. I know with dog introductions, puppies and seniors are the easiest to integrate, so I asked my friend Kristin for advice as she is super well versed in all things pig. She confirmed that piglets are easy to introduce, so the decision was made. Coincidentally or perhaps kismet, she also knew of a male piglet on a stray hold in southern VA. He was being treated for scabies, so his hold was being done at a veterinary clinic. I coordinated with his vet, and after a 2-week stay at the hospital, we picked him up last Friday. He’s currently being quarantine in the garage just to have a little extra buffer, although he theoretically should no longer be contagious at this point. I hope not, because we have done some serious cuddling!

Welcome to Fat & Happy, Robert Redford!

15/01/2025

Big news drop, coming soon!

08/01/2025

It’s been a week and I still don’t want to talk about it.

I know we don’t share enough on the social media pages as it is given there’s no leftover time after taking care of the animals and our FT jobs. And then there are some things that hurt so deeply that it’s hard to talk about them in a platform like this; especially when I haven’t been able to talk about it with the people closest to me.

On Sun. Dec 22, Tyson Beckford went down and wouldn’t get up. Over the next nine days, we had our vet make two emergency house calls and there was an immense amount of daily care and touch points.

We were managing but he wasn’t improving so on Tues. Dec. 31, Tyson went to VA Tech for diagnostics. They were able to quickly identify that he had bladder stones, which are uncommon in pigs. We gave the green light for surgery, understanding that it would necessitate him remaining in patient for 10-14 days post surgery and there was the possibility that his urethra may never heal. When they ran the pre-op bloodwork, it was determined that the situation was too advanced and there was only one humane option. Our perfect, beloved little boy had hid his pain until it was too late for us to try to help him. At 5:45 pm on NYE, he left us.

Devastated. Heartbroken. Angry, at myself. Second guessing every decision we have made. Weighed down with guilt and responsibility.

Tyson was one of my very most favorite parts of every day. The joy he brought was immeasurable.

RIP sweet baby. We will love and miss you forever.

07/01/2025

Stewie has been getting a little apprehensive about approaching the bunk feeder in the morning; I suspect it’s because as the cows are all getting bigger, they’re getting pushier. It should hopefully resolve itself once the third pasture is finished in the coming weeks and we can redistribute this group.

In the meantime, Stewie gets his meals personally delivered. 🥰

24/12/2024

We had planned to introduce the first of the bottle boys on his namesake’s birthday yesterday, but we are a bit late between the holidays and a situation with one of the kune kunes, which we will share in another post.

This cutie has been with us for around 1.5 months. He was posted on Craig’s List in what appeared to be discard from a dairy operation (he was living in one of those itty bitty huts 🥲 and was estimated to be about ten days old).

He is bold and vivacious, and no one can take down a bottle faster - it’s a good thing he won’t be college bound because I expect he could be a funnel champion!

Oh, I’m a lucky man
To count on both hands
The ones I love
Some folks just have one
Yeah, others they got none

Welcome to Fat & Happy, Eddie Vedder!

23/12/2024

Annie Lennox playing with her food again…

22/12/2024

Carlos is working on his Tinder profile…

15/12/2024

Learning to eat grain…almost got it!

11/12/2024

Looking for the perfect gift that will inspire and entertain the kiddos in your life this holiday season?

A beloved member of the Fat & Happy family recently published the first book of the series, “Winston’s Wonderful World.” It’s the story of Winston, the lovable rescued American Bulldog who’s ready to take children on an uplifting journey filled with love, adoption, family, and friendship. He shows how to overcome challenges with courage and humor, making every page a heartwarming adventure.

This story isn’t just entertaining; it’s a wonderful way to spark conversations about kindness, resilience, and the importance of relationships.

Animals, rescue, and lessons on being a better person? We are all in!

A portion of the proceeds of this book goes to rescues, including ours. We couldn’t be more appreciative of her thoughtfulness and generosity.

We picked up our copy and hope you’ll do the same!

Winston's Wonderful World: Chapter 1

05/12/2024

Action series of our beloved Pat Smear, coming in hot for some pets! 🐮