The Farmette

The Farmette Located in Pipersville, PA, The Farmette is a donkey and horse rescue & sanctuary. Visiting hours are by appointment only.

Please email or PM us to request a visit.

Volunteers who come even when its brutally hot. Volunteers who take extra shifts to cover vacation absences. Volunteer...
24/06/2025

Volunteers who come even when its brutally hot. Volunteers who take extra shifts to cover vacation absences. Volunteers who text, "Scorching weather. Let me know if you want any extra help this week." We are truly grateful.

And we are also very grateful to everyone who donated toward fly protection gear that the donkeys need. The order has been placed!

It is horribly hot today for sure. All the animals are fine this morning. Sweaty and unusually quiet, but eating and okay. Water, water, water.

Lots of things to be grateful for including the knowledge that we have just a couple more days of this heat and then a very welcome break ahead. Hark and Hope agree!

We've tried everything for fly protection. It's all either expensive, messy, useless, problem-causing or has a very sho...
23/06/2025

We've tried everything for fly protection. It's all either expensive, messy, useless, problem-causing or has a very short positive effect for donkeys. We've followed every idea we've heard of and set out Irish Spring soap, sprayed barn walls with Pine Sol and Fabuloso, used garlic supplements (huge failure!), installed traps of various kinds and tried many types of roll-ons, sprays and other products on the donkeys themselves and haven't found any of them to be a real solution or, in some cases, to make a difference at all. We've tried a couple of types of fly boots but they either wouldn't stay on, created blisters or were so hot that they caused their own problems. We do use Fly Predators and believe that they make a huge difference in the quantity of flies that are here but the donkeys' legs are still vulnerable without more protection. They are itchy, bleed, lose hair and eventually have open sores from biting themselves out of discomfort and frustration.

We found ways to turn women's leggings into donkey pants and those help many of the donkeys a lot. They get really dirty, tear and don't last very long but they do help tremendously. However, some of our donkeys benefit the most from these mesh leggings. We have a wonderful friend willing to make them but we haven't been able to source the rubber binding needed for the top and bottom, and other fabrics we've tried (like fleece) don't hold up as well or leave rub marks. That was last summer's experiment!

Cinnamon is modeling the style that we have found works the best. We are down to 2 1/2 pairs total and as you can see, even they aren't in great shape now. They are expensive but one set of four usually helps two donkeys because most of them need them only on the front legs. If anyone is interested in donating a set and helping two donkeys feel less miserable, here is the link -- PONY SIZE, please:

https://www.sstack.com/schneiders-mosquito-mesh-ii-non-fitted-fly-boots-set-of-4/t/pony/p/45829c/a2/100000000367/av2/100000005957/?variant=TRUE

If you'd like to donate so that we can purchase them directly, feel free to use the donate button on this post or you can donate through our PayPal or Venmo with a note "Fly boots". Thank you!

Enough of this heat and the flies that come with it. We're ready for fall already!

Beth has the right idea on a morning that is already really hot before the excessive warning even goes into effect! UGH...
21/06/2025

Beth has the right idea on a morning that is already really hot before the excessive warning even goes into effect! UGH! Shade, shelter, fans, water. Diluted gatorade or electrolytes if they like them. Ice. Cold watermelon but be careful with the sugar. Hay. Eating hay encourages them to drink water. Have salt available. Monitor. If you feel too hot to want to go outside to check on them, remember that they are living outside.

There are four seasons for people with barn animals. Forget winter, spring, summer and fall. They have these four names instead:

Ice
Mud
Flies
Those couple of really great weeks in late October/November
!!!

What’s going on here? There’s only one small visible clue. No treats involved!
20/06/2025

What’s going on here? There’s only one small visible clue. No treats involved!

It is way too hot and humid way too soon. Check on your animals often. If they haven't shed out yet, check on them eve...
19/06/2025

It is way too hot and humid way too soon. Check on your animals often. If they haven't shed out yet, check on them even more often. Shelter and water, water, water.

And if you like hot weather, please don't rave about it in the presence of others who work in barns! They might take revenge! Fun fact: There is nothing in all the world like carrying dry, crumbly hay when you're covered in sweat -- which you are as soon as you enter the barn and do the slightest thing. Thank you, volunteers, fosters and adopters for all you do for Farmette animals.

Our donkeys are cute. Our donkeys are entertaining. Our donkeys are sweet. Our donkeys are smart. But our donkeys do...
17/06/2025

Our donkeys are cute. Our donkeys are entertaining. Our donkeys are sweet. Our donkeys are smart. But our donkeys do ZERO WORK!!!

So we need help! If you'd like to volunteer with us on a weekly barn cleaning shift, please email us with your weekly availability. A shift takes about 90 minutes or so depending on weather and other variables and we have both AM and PM shifts daily. Ages 18+ welcome. Children 16+ are also welcome but must volunteer with a parent. Again, a weekly commitment to at least one specific shift is required. Once trained, volunteers must be able to work independently without direct supervision.

Would you like to organize a group of strong, hardworking teens or adults to complete a volunteer project? We have large piles of firewood that need to be moved and stacked as well as a couple of ditches that have to be dug by hand and lined with stone. No special training or experience necessary but these are physical tasks that require the ability to push a heavy wheelbarrow, stack wood and dig with shovels. Consider the experience a free temporary gym membership! Given the upcoming weather, we can probably offer free simultaneous sauna treatments!

Please contact us by email ([email protected]) if you're interested. We would need to know the specifics of your group (ages and abilities), how many people would be in your group and details about scheduling (when you would like to come and how long you would stay).

Thanks for considering.

Night check scenes. Friendship matters deeply to donkeys.
17/06/2025

Night check scenes. Friendship matters deeply to donkeys.

Happy Father’s Day! This sweet guy is Tony who acts like the dad of the herd. Kind, smart, protective and fun!
15/06/2025

Happy Father’s Day! This sweet guy is Tony who acts like the dad of the herd. Kind, smart, protective and fun!

Donkey Henrietta says that the roof over her head is not in good shape -- and she is correct. Surprisingly, even though...
13/06/2025

Donkey Henrietta says that the roof over her head is not in good shape -- and she is correct. Surprisingly, even though the plywood is rotting so extensively that chunks of it are falling into the stalls, this approximately 60 ft long donkey shed row is not yet leaking everywhere. But there are enough issues that something needs to be done before there is a more serious problem. There are holes where everything has rotted away but there are also dry corners where the donkeys know to take shelter away from the drips! Some parts of the roof are still covered by disintegrating asphalt shingles. A few years ago, on top of the shingles, several used, metal roofing panels were attached to buy time. They have done their job but water comes through their seams and unused holes and no more caulking can fix the growing number of issues.

We would very much like to replace the roof and we have a roofer who could do it this summer. They would tear off the leaking panels, the deteriorating shingles and what’s left of the old plywood base and install corrugated panels attached to new purlins (small, horizontal supports) which would be a long-term solution and which would take a lot of the weight off this old structure’s roof.

To do this, we would need to raise $5,000 which is a great price for this job but a huge goal especially when there are so many rescue-related needs everywhere right now. But, especially before next winter, the donkeys need a safe, dry structure so we are asking for help for this need. We do everything possible ourselves with volunteer help and have made several structural repairs to this barn already, but we aren’t up to taking on the roof project without professional help.

If you’d like to help us, donations can be made through this post as well as through our PayPal or Venmo.

Wouldn't you like to look out your window and see faces like these with personalities that match? Got a barn, fencing a...
12/06/2025

Wouldn't you like to look out your window and see faces like these with personalities that match? Got a barn, fencing and a dry lot? A heart to love them? Time to spend with them? Energy to care for them? Financial resources to take care of them? Interested in fostering or adopting donkeys? Check out our webpage to read about our adoption requirements. Please send us an email to confirm your geographical location is within our approved range before you complete an application. We have available donkeys in the Pipersville, PA and Indianapolis, IN areas. [email protected]

The best decisions are those made for the good of the donkey though they can be the hardest to make. 18-year old Lucia ...
11/06/2025

The best decisions are those made for the good of the donkey though they can be the hardest to make.

18-year old Lucia (pronounced like the island even though she herself is not a saint!) lost her donkey friend about a year ago. Her owner was not in the position of taking on another donkey and reached out for help. When we visited, we found a very loved but lonely donkey who desperately needed some donkey friends. As you can see, she found several!

Rescue work can be discouraging, frustrating and challenging. The needs are overwhelming. People can be unreasonable and at times, downright mean. And the pressures are many. But as one of our volunteers very rightly put it, "these are the moments that make all the frustration, tears, mud and heartache worth it."

A huge thank you to a new Farmette friend for his very enthusiastic and thorough volunteer demo work for us in an old ba...
08/06/2025

A huge thank you to a new Farmette friend for his very enthusiastic and thorough volunteer demo work for us in an old barn. When Bruce isn't installing garage doors, he's helping others. This is just one of the things that makes a local business so unique. If anyone needs a new garage door, call or text Bruce at 610-730-6752 at All-Type Garage Door Company in Upper Black Eddy. Thanks, Bruce!

Address


Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Farmette posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to The Farmette:

Shortcuts

  • Address
  • Alerts
  • Contact The Business
  • Claim ownership or report listing

  • Want your business to be the top-listed Pet Store/pet Service?

Share