cattle care

One of Those Days

February 6, 2026 by Dusty Cavaliere

Do you ever have one of those days when everything piles up, and it all feels like it’s just too much?

Follow along as see what gets us through a challenging day at the sanctuary.

A SECRET HIDEAWAY

October 23, 2025 by Dusty Cavaliere

It’s autumn – my favorite time of year for cattle care. Honey, Betsy, and Meredith graze in the upper pasture where the leaves turn red, the cattails wilt, and the grass is brittle gold.

Don’t tell anyone but some days I wish I could stay up there all day, hide away.

I’d kick back with the girls and do cow stuff – like gossip around the mineral trough,

itch on the cattle scratching brush,

search for more snacks in the sidekick,

nap beneath the shady pines and listen to the chimps pant-hoot far below the hill.

And if no one missed me in the chimp house, I’d stay all night. I imagine the stars are fantastic, the milky way bright. I’d find the perfect spot nestled between Betsy and Meredith (Honey likes her own space). We’d listen to the coyotes howl, the deer leap over the underbrush, and the night birds dive in the pond.

Where’s your secret hideaway?

Cow-uality Time

August 16, 2025 by Ellen Brady-McGaughey

Today’s blog post is all about the cows! Cow-uality (quality) time…get it?!

The sanctuary is home to our own small herd of cattle: Betsy, Meredith, and Honey. These ladies help to fire-wise the property by “mowing” the grass in their multiple pastures which they move around to throughout the year. Right now, they are in the upper pasture, which is my favorite of their pastures. The views are lovely both in the pasture itself, and on the way there and back from the Chimp House.

The view coming back to the Chimp House from the upper pasture.

Another (informal) sanctuary resident, one of many deer, who I saw on my way to care for the cattle.

Summer time with the cows, for me, means both quality time with the cows and some quiet time outside. It can be a nice break when things are more chaotic in the Chimp House to go spend time petting Betsy (the most people-oriented of the cows) while everyone eats their grain, then brushing them (which also serves as a way to apply fly spray), before returning to the Chimp House.