Save a Herd
We want to save a family herd of six cows and their five calves from being sent to the slaughterhouse.
Northland
We have just moved to our new home, but it has some happy heifers and their calves still there, as their last owner wants to wait for better prices before sending them to the works.
Their owner is now not doing farming and has said we can purchase the animals off her for the same amount as the works.
We were thinking of eventually starting a small animal sanctuary on the 80acre site in Waimamaku, just not this soon. We will be starting up a trust, I'm just doing some consulting on it first with local iwi.
The group is 6 female cows and their 5 calves that are still suckling.
They are fairly friendly. All the adults eat out of our hands and two like rubs and cuddles, despite not knowing us long. We have been given an estimate of about $11,500 - being $500 for the calves and $1500 for the Mothers. When she wants to sell (she indicated sometime in April) she will get an assessor to come estimate their worth and we can buy them then, if we can.
We will save the smallest first as they are cheaper and mean more lives for the money - we have enough to save the calves and are now trying to save their mothers.
We are lucky enough to have another vegan couple who have said they are happy to take on the care of a few as well, but are unable to pay for them as they are already needing to set up the paddocks with fences and such. Although we would prefer not to split the herd, 11 fully grown animals will be a strain financially and otherwise support and we think that is the best thing for the animals, and our other projects, long term. There is a strong possibility some of the mothers are also pregnant again - another reason to not send them to slaughter!
Anyone is welcome to come visit the herd. We will be having eco huts up to stay in eventually, but for now it might have to be tents, or a spare room if we have on available at the time. We do aim to have rooms available in about 5months time.
Thank you gifts
For any donation over $30, send us a short phrase to thesustainablenurse@gmail.com and we will paint a 'Sponsor's Stone', a medium-sized rock that will line our walkways to remember those helping us on our journey. Something like 'Thanks for saving the cows, love the Taylor family'.
Any donation over $100 gets a two-night stay at the farm once we are more settled. Just email me at thesustainablenurse@gmail.com to give me your contact details to let you know when that is.
Sponsorship for each animal at $5 per week is also available and allows two people a double night stay twice a year to visit their furry friends.
These can be made on behalf of someone else for a gift and we can make a gift certificate to send them. No expiry.
Use of funds
Anything over $11,500 will go towards any vet costs, fencing requirements and other specific needs for the cows that might crop up.
Use of funds
Purchasing of first the calves, then the mothers.
Anything over $11,500 will go towards any vet costs, fencing requirements and other specific needs for the cows that might crop up.
Other page links
Latest update
All done! 22 May 2020
A massive thank you to everyone exceeding our goals!
We had the herd assessed for their market value recently and, thankfully, the current market is terrible, and all together we needed to pay $6,535.
Below I will go into the details of what this means and where the funds are going, for everyone interested.
Otherwise, please make sure you are following the gorgeous family you have helped preserve on https://www.facebook.com/SherockAnimalSanctuary/
We are very lucky to have two donors starting regular support for ongoing costs, and this is possible to easily do through our website if you like www.thesustainablenurse.com
We have a friend of mine, with experience caring for rescue cows, coming to live in a caravan on-site and help look after them with us. A universe being very kind indeed! So Erin, her best friend Alyssa, and their rescue dogs Bambam and Zapzap are likely to be in future stories.
This is going to allow me and Zara more time to work. The lockdown has left us with a lot of bills unpaid and so the $2500 deposit the owner needed and that was paid personally, Due to Give-A-Little page taking up to 2 months to pay out funds, I have needed to fund a lot of initial costs upfront. I am someone who has stupidly strict morals, and despite these things being directly for the cow's needs, I am finding it hard to accept that some of the leftover raised funds will be needed to pay me back. But we do need rates paid, cars to run and insurance to be there in order for this to all work. So I have finally made my peace with it. Please contact me if anyone would like to see the accounts at all. Anyone is very welcome.
Also, in all transparency, one donor, who pledge to give $1000 to save a cow, I have told to keep their money since we raised so much. The reason for this is because they are an animal sanctuary themselves and I felt they should use it for another rescue since it was so much and we had been able to save them all.
Setting up the Trust
This has been stalled, partly due to lockdown meaning I haven't been able to meet the local Tangata Whenua that wanted to have a face to face meeting, and partly due to being busy and feeling overwhelmed at starting something that seems so complicated.
However, I have finished my Masters now until Jan next year and with Erin arriving soon to help with the cows, I expect to be able to sort the trust out very soon. The Trust will incorporate several arms, one being the sanctuary. You can read more about the overall vision and how they complement each other at https://www.thesustainablenurse.com/about
If anyone, specifically Maori wahine, would like to be part of the board of the trust or anyone that has the abilities to write grants and such, please get in touch on our Facebook or at thesustainablenurse@gmail.com
Our next steps are getting them all vaccinated, as two bouts of deadly illnesses have been in the area recently. We are also doing a lot of fencing and sourcing of supplies for troughs. We will be wanting to build them a little shed for bad weather as well. Any free building supplies, from windows and doors to nails and screws, almost everything is useful!
Along with the cows, we also have two ducks, two sheep we have just managed to rescue, the rescue dogs coming to stay, rescue cats that will be arriving in the next few months but will be living in very large cat runs to save the local birds and double as areas for fruit trees the birds can't get to, and some rescue chickens that I shall be picking up this week.
We will be coming through Auckland fairly frequently and so can pick things up.
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