On my way to work, I was sitting in traffic behind a Metrobus, on the back of which was an ad stating, “Meet a cow. We’ll pay you $5.00.” For more information, refer to www.meetacow.com .
Well, that certainly woke me up. Being a greedy little worker bee, as soon as I got to the office (and when the boss wasn’t looking), I went onto the website. Sure enough, there was a photo of Albert the Cow (well, technically, a bull since he’s male), with a link to watch a video of Albert playing with a ball in his yard at the ASHA Sanctuary in Newfane, NY. Can you resist a video of a young bull playing with a ball? I sure can’t.
Plus, they would serve free ice cream sundaes! I immediately registered for their next event, to be held on Sunday, April 17.
ASHA SANCTUARY
On the day, I picked up Cordelia, and we drove about 40 minutes to the sanctuary. I was a little surprised that the location appeared to be a simple farm.
(Note to ASHA Sanctuary personnel – maybe one of your volunteers with artistic talent could make you a sign for the beginning of your driveway? We went past it, before realizing the tent and all those cars meant we had found the right place.)
WAITING FOR THE VIDEO
Naturally, we expected to be shown an anti-animal abuse video because the purpose of ASHA Sanctuary is the rescue of abused farm animals, and Albert had been rescued as a newborn calf from a dairy farm. However, the video, although upsetting, was not as bad as it could have been, and was only about 10 minutes long.
Then we got to meet the animals.
A WHITE TURKEY!
First were the turkeys and chickens. Throughout the entire event, the male turkey strutted around preening – he obviously loved getting attention from all those people. Even the chickens came up to be petted. I had never petted a turkey or a chicken before – my only experience around fowl was being chased by a swoose (half swan/half goose) on a farm as a child. That swoose was one mean bird!
The rooster stayed in his coop since he was a little shy of people – but he did crow on cue when it was mentioned that this is mating season.
LOOK AT THAT SMILE!
After meeting the feathered friends and learning a little about their care, we all walked over to the area containing the four-footed animals. First we met The Pig (whose name I don’t recall). I was able to get a photo of him, but unfortunately I’m not limber enough to crouch into his hut to pet him. Cordelia did, and The Pig actually smiled at being petted.
ALBERT THE COW
Next, small groups were shown into the fenced yard area, where we met two sheep, a goat, two donkeys – and Albert the Cow. Albert was obviously feeling a little tired after being petted all morning, but still managed to show his sweet, loving personality. I swear when I whispered in his ear, he was about to give me a kiss, until he got distracted by another visitor. He did love to pose for the camera.
DAWN THE DONKEY
Dawn the Donkey was a sneaky little lady. She stood quietly awaiting her turn, so I walked over and scratched her forehead and ears. Then I went back to the main group surrounding Albert. As I watched, Dawn slowly – ever so slow – began creeping up behind everyone until she finally managed to poke her nose between two visitors to let everyone know she was not to be ignored.
NO HEAD-BUTTING, PLEASE!
Even the goat eventually came over to the petted. I admit I got just a little nervous when sanctuary personnel commented that the goat “used to head butt a lot but doesn’t do that too often now.” Those horns were really solid and looked like they could hurt! But the goat was just as loving as all the other animals.
Finally, it was ice cream time! As we headed back to the tent, I learned that it was non-dairy ice cream, made with almond milk. I have nothing against vegan ice cream, but almond is one of my colitis triggers, so I had to forego my treat.
RESTING AFTER A JOB WELL DONE
At the end of the event, everyone was given their $5 bill – as far as I could tell, every single person then put that $5 into the donation jar.
Next on the agenda was dinner at Gordie Harper’s (I was last there on that mini-wine tour). Being unsure of the Newfane area, I Mapquested our route. The first turn was onto Jacques Road – we went right past it. Not only was it unmarked, it was also unpaved (WTF?). But I’m a brave soul with an all-wheel drive SUV, so we took the chance. Lots of dust and potholes, but we did get to Gordie Harper’s.
After a nice meal and a short browse through the boutique, it was time to head home. All in all, a very nice way to spend a beautiful Sunday afternoon.
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Images by Cordelia’s Mom
Cordelia's Mom, Still 
Sounds like a lovely Sunday! The animals all look adorable.. BTW you should maybe write about how you got to be chased by the swoose 🙂 I didn’t evn know there’s such a thing called swoose!
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You’re right. I should do a post on the swoose – it was a pretty traumatic incident, right up there with the bassett hound chasing me onto a picnic table because I picked up one of her puppies.
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Haha.. You’ve been chased by a variety of fauna 😀 I have only been chased by dogs so far – a pomeranian, a dachshund (ironically named Smiley), and a german shepherd cross.
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I’m totally jealous and would give you another $5 to take me 🙂 What a great outing!
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If you lived closer, I would definitely take you. I plan to go back again.
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That’s awesome. Glad it was a good day and to be paid for doing it, evcen if it is put back into the donation jar, that’s brilliant.
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I would have gone even without the $5 incentive. The whole “meet a cow” campaign appealed to me.
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It’s great. There is one similar here, but it is “pet the goat” and it costs £6. There is nothing else there though, just a goat tied to a post.
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Getting paid to have that much fun is always a good thing. I went to a similar place in Maine one year and still remember the poor pitiful moose that was scared of everybody because he evidently had a traumatic life in the wild.
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It was evident that these animals had been well cared for and loved after being rescued. Only the rooster was still afraid of people.
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That sounds like a fun time. Our local dairy farm sometimes has an open house in May. It’s always fun to go meet the animals.
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It is, but of course the video we were shown was meant to show all dairy farms as evil. I seriously doubt that all dairy farmers treat their livestock the way the animals in the video were treated. In any event, I can’t say that I’m quite willing to give up milk and eggs.
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Our dairy farm is a small family run affair and the cows are treated very well.
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Sweet way to pass the day. Nice photos as well, CM. ☺ 🐂 🐐 🐏 🐑 🐎 🐖
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It was a very nice day. And thanks, Van, for the compliment on the photos!
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Oddly enough, I’ve met quite a few pet chickens. They make pretty nice pets and are not nearly as dumb as people think. Also met a lot of calves, especially locally. People treat their animals very well around here, but this isn’t big business type farming. It’s small, family farms and the cows have names and get to hang out by the creek on warm summer days. The chickens only recently had to have their yards fenced because the foxes are becoming more daring, but they still have lots of room to roam.
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That’s the way it should be. Then no one would be upset about eating eggs and drinking milk. I think if I ever got enough land, I would have at least one of each farm animal (and maybe I could finally get that pony I’ve always wanted!).
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OMG – the critters are all so cute! And Albert is quite the looker… Being an alum of many, many petting zoo’s, I’d rate you experience as an 11 on a scale of 10!
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Definitely at the top of the scale. And it was so much better knowing these were all rescued animals and not those raised specifically to be displayed in a petting zoo. This sanctuary only has events once a month or so, the purpose of which is to educate people about abuses in the dairy industry. I was surprised that there were so many non-dairy animals there – it made the visit even more special.
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So cool – I like your new social crowd CM – ha!
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Aren’t they sweet? I should have gone into some field where I could be with animals all day (pardon the pun).
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