Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

bovine buddy

Love for Nutmeg

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Today is our first in a series of Valentine’s posts about each of the individuals in our care.

We are using the month of love to tell you more about everyone so they can gain more Chimpanzee Pals and Bovine Buddies. We hope to have 30 new pal or buddies by the end of the month!

I wanted to kick off the love with a post about Nutmeg, the steer we lost in March of 2024. Today would have been his 11th birthday.

As we share on his bio page, Nutmeg was born at Farm Sanctuary on February 10, 2015. His mom Betsy, along with Honey, were dairy cows purchased for a reality TV series called “Utopia”. When the show ended, after Honey’s daughter Meredith was born on set, the veterinarian and the show’s producer didn’t want to send pregnant Betsy and her new family back into the dairy industry. Seeking an alternative, and lucky for Nutmeg and his family, they found Farm Sanctuary. Like his cow companions, he came to our sanctuary on November 2, 2018 from Farm Sanctuary‘s Northern California shelter when it closed.

Nutmeg was best known for looking intimidating but being a big softie who still relied on his mom for comfort. He had a boyish charm that he shared with other sanctuary residents, which I wrote about in this blog post. Nutmeg was also known for his enviable curly red hairdo.

He liked tractors (seriously) and scratching his big, lovable head:

In the fall, he was most likely to be found picking apples right off the tree in the winter pasture. I will forever think of that particular tree as being Nutmeg’s.

What got Nutmeg out of bed in the morning was probably Betsy or Honey getting out of bed first and him dutifully following their cue.

Nutmeg was the first steer I got to know well, and I am thankful for every moment I was able to spend with him.

Nutmeg currently has two in memoriam Bovine Buddies. Thank you to them for continuing to honor his memory and his influence on the sanctuary. If you’d like to join their herd, you can become his Buddy here: https://chimpsnw.org/you-can-help/be-a-bovine-buddy/

Be mine, Meredith

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Last, but not least of our Bovine Buddies, is the lovely Meredith who, shockingly, only has two sponsors, Monica and Jackie, who actually sponsor all four of our cattle comrades! Thank you for being such stellar supporters, Monica and Jackie! If you would like to boost Meredith’s numbers and become her Bovine Buddy, you can do so here.

Watch the video below created by our co-director, Diana, to fall in love with Meredith!

Meredith is the biological daughter of Honey, the adopted daughter of Betsy, and the adopted sister to Nutmeg. One big happy family! She was born in 2015 during the filming of a reality TV show called Utopia, which aired for only a brief time. Honey and Betsy were purchased for the show from a dairy farm and both were pregnant. After giving birth, Honey had trouble nursing Meredith due to a case of mastitis, which is very painful and is a common complication for dairy cows. Luckily for Meredith, however, Betsy, being pregnant with Nutmeg, prematurely produced milk and eagerly allowed Meredith to nurse. Soon after, Nutmeg was born – impossibly tiny compared to his great size today – and the family unity was complete!

Click here to watch a video of baby Meredith being reunited with her mom(s)!

When the show got cancelled, the four cattle were taken in by Farm Sanctuary in Northern California and when the sanctuary had to close in 2018, they moved to CSNW where they will live out the rest of their lives in cow heaven.

Little Meredith at Farm Sanctuary

I’ve only had about six months to get to know Meredith so far, but she’s been a joy to work with. I quickly learned that she loves to receive scratches and will streeeetch her nose straight up while you scratch under her chin and jaw. She also seems to kindof enjoy gentle eye rubs. I’m told she will forage for willow leaves and wild rose in the summer and I know first hand she loves alfalfa and her daily grain!

Meredith has developed arthritis in her front hoof joints, making it painful to walk, but she’s been a real trooper as the care staff have done their best to diagnose and treat it. She has endured a full season of pokes and prods, transportation to WSU for treatment, limited access to her habitat during recovery, and even chiropractic appointments! She lets us know when she’s irritated, but considering everything she puts up with, she has been very patient. Can you imagine Honey cow in her place?? We would have to wear armor, I think.

Meredith getting scanned at WSU

 

Meredith and her mom, Honey, share a tender moment while Meredith is separated for recovery

Beautiful wintery Meredith

 

If you’ve fallen in love with Meredith like we all have, please consider becoming her Bovine Buddy!

Be Mine, Honey Cow

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You know how last week in our Be Mine series, I said that Betsy was easy to get to know because of her gregariousness towards humans? Well, today, let me introduce you to her cow opposite in that respect – Honey Cow!

If you want the quick and delightful overview of all that is wonderful Honey, watch her Fall in Love video that Grace made last week, then read on:

Honey was likely born in 2007 and we choose to celebrate her birthday on November 10th.

(Allow me to pause here and skip ahead a bit to tell you that, shockingly, Honey Cow only has three Bovine Buddies currently – Monica, Jackie, and Jennifer (thank you to them!!). So, if you are looking to add a cow friend to sponsor (and why wouldn’t you, for just $10/month?!), I definitely recommend you read on and choose Honey for your Buddy!)

Honey, as we’ve explained through Betsy and Nutmeg‘s Be Mine blog posts, is mom to Meredith. Like Betsy, she was used in the dairy industry before being purchased for use in the reality TV show Utopia. In fact, Honey gave birth to Meredith during the filming of the series. When Utopia was cancelled after just two months, Betsy, Honey and Meredith all went to Farm Sanctuary’s shelter in northern California (you can read more from Farm Sanctuary about how they ended up at that sanctuary here, a profile of Honey from Farm Sanctuary here, and a mention in the Hollywood Reporter here). They were soon joined by lil’ baby Nutmeg (who is now big baby Nutmeg 😉 )

Honey and little Meredith at Farm Sanctuary:

Honey is a fan of alfalfa, and she also likes to lick up salt and mineral supplements. We have these in block form for the cattle to lick whenever they want to, and we also add loose salt and minerals to their grain in the wintertime when they are relying on dry hay for nutrients rather than grazing.

 

In the winter, when the temps drop, the cattle start to get a thicker coat of hair. On Honey in particular, her longer hair develops a wonderfully luxurious wavy pattern.

Like Betsy, Honey is very curious:

Unlike Betsy, Honey is somewhat suspicious of humans and has a certain disdain to be touched by them. I would venture to say that one of her favorite activities is looking scornfully at people. She will definitively let you know when you have invaded her personal space with a shake of her head or a head butt.

I’ve mentioned before that the more “difficult” animals, the ones who have to be won over, always seem to find a big place in my heart, and this is certainly the case for Honey Cow.

I love that she’s sometimes annoyed by my presence! And I love even more that I can now touch her or brush her head and, though she still acts annoyed, she usually doesn’t stop me.

Once again, I encourage you to choose Honey for your Buddy!

Here’s a bonus photo taken during our deep freeze this winter. Similar to when we exhale in the cold and there’s a cloud of our warm respiration, Honey’s exhale created a nose halo of face frost.

 

Be Mine, Betsy

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Lovely Betsy Cow is one of the bovine family of four we currently have at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. Just like the chimpanzees, each of the cattle have their own very distinct personalities and roles within their group.

Betsy, as the video says, is the quintessential “mom” – much like Jody was for her chimp friends before she passed away.

Betsy is so motherly that she nursed Meredith when Honey had mastitis and she continued to let Nutmeg nurse for years, even after he was twice her size!

Also similar to the chimpanzees, Betsy had a varied past before reaching sanctuary. We know that she was used in the dairy industry for a number of years. We don’t know how many calves she had in total before she was purchased, along with Honey Cow, to be part of a reality television called Utopia where urban folks were brought to a farm in California to learn how to live a rural life. The series didn’t last too long, and when it ended, the producer wanted to send pregnant Betsy and the rest of the family to a sanctuary rather than back to the dairy. So, Farm Sanctuary was contacted, and pregnant Betsy, Honey, and baby Meredith went to their northern California sanctuary.

In 2018, after acquiring some more land, we were contemplating rescuing farmed animals to graze on the greatly expanded pastures. It just so happened that Farm Sanctuary was shutting down their northern California site and looking to place Betsy and her family!

Betsy is someone who I liked right away. Some animals (including humans) take a while to get to know and need a lot of space. Not Betsy. Though she’s she’s very vigilant, she is also curious and is usually the first to approach new people (and lick them, if they will let her).

She’s also the most likely to boldly walk out of her space if there’s a gate open (something Jenna and I both know well now), while the rest of her family watches with more apprehension. She has no hesitation going into the creek to eat the greens there or dunk her face in some mud.

I am so glad that Betsy found her way to us. She has brought me joy  since the day she stepped off the trailer.

Thanks goes to her admirers and current Betsy Buddies: Monica, Jackie and (human) Betsy.

You too can help us celebrate all that Betsy embodies by becoming her Bovine Buddy!

Become a Bovine Buddy