Born 2015 (birthday celebrated September 23)
You can now support the sanctuary by becoming Meredith’s Bovine Buddy! Meredith currently has 6 Buddies!
Meredith is an adventurous Jersey cow who has been able to lead a very different life than most other cows bred for dairy production. Like her three companions, she came to our sanctuary on November 2, 2018 from Farm Sanctuary‘s Northern California shelter. Meredith has an independent streak, though she’s tight with her herd. She enjoys having her neck scratched by her caregivers and will stretch it out as far as she can while being scratched.
Meredith’s mom Honey, along with Betsy, were dairy cows purchased for a reality TV series called “Utopia”. Meredith was born on set and originally called “Ca$h Cow” by the crew. When the show was cancelled, the veterinarian and the show’s producer didn’t want to send Meredith and her family back into the dairy industry. Seeking an alternative, they found Farm Sanctuary.
Honey had a bad case of mastitis that the Farm Sanctuary staff treated for her first two months at the shelter. Because of the infection, she was unable to nurse her daughter. Luckily, Betsy, who was pregnant, gladly took on the role of nursing Meredith, alongside her own son, Nutmeg, after he was born.
So, instead of being sent back to the dairy, where she would have been impregnated and then milked until she was considered “spent”, Meredith grew up with two moms and an adopted baby brother at Farm Sanctuary.
We are so glad to have had the opportunity to adopt Meredith and her family when Farm Sanctuary’s Northern California shelter was closed. Most of the cattle were moved to their Watkins Glen, NY shelter, but we were lucky enough to be able to adopt the “Utopia family”. All of the cattle are beloved by staff, and they help firewise the property by grazing down the grass.
