Skylands, The Gentle Barn, and Kindred Spirits Sanctuary. There Might Be Others.

I know for a fact about the first three organizations.  They get/collect/buy/plead for what we would call "farm animals," not infrequently meant for slaughter or to produce dairy, and they provide expansive places for these animals to live out their lives.  They have many or hundreds of acres of land, and they make these pastures home for these animals.

Obviously, not only do the owners of these properties make caring for these animals their full time jobs, but they also need hay and other normal food for the animals during the winter, and they need veterinary access for the ones that are acquired unwell.

Skylands is in New Jersey, The Gentle Barn is in California, Missouri, and Tennessee, and Kindred Spirits Sanctuary is in (Citra) Florida.

I'm not being subtle here, and the point is that they need income.  If you care, they're all non-profit, and they all rely on donations.

The Gentle Barn is unique, in a good way, I hope, in that they have a program where the public (your children, you) can pet and interact with the animals.  That's not a meaningful feature unless you're there, but it might create an excuse for a vacation destination.

If you participated in Give Miami Day, you might be relatively tapped out just at the moment.  But even if you are, none of these would turn up their noses at a modest monthly donation.  I just got an e-mail from Skylands today.  Their barn is empty of hay.  The good news is that hay only costs $6 a bale.  The bad news is that cows, for example, eat 200 bales a day.  Mike, from Skylands, asks donors to provide "a bale or two (or three) during [the] Thanksgiving Food Drive."  Clearly, it will take a lot of people donating 1-3 bales of hay to provide 200 bales (for one cow).  Mike says his goal is to fill at least one empty barn before Thanksgiving, and that will amount to 150,000 pounds, which will cost him $12,500.

You can ignore this, because it's just someone else who wants money.  Or you can feel bad for the animals.  Or appreciative of Mike, and of the people who run The Gentle Barn and Kindred Spirits Sanctuary.  Or this can lead you to think of non-human animals, and the industry in which they're stuck, in a different way.

I donate $20 a month to Skylands.  (That's just over the three bales Mike requested.)  I give the same to The Gentle Barn.  I haven't yet committed to Kindred Spirits Sanctuary, but I probably soon will.  And I reduce pressure on the other end by restricting to a vegan diet.  So there's that much less reason to raise non-human animals to be slaughtered for food, or used for dairy.

Anyway, it's something to consider, if you're moved to share your money.  You can "google" these organizations, or you can go to Skylands' site at skylandssanctuary.org.  The Gentle Barn is gentlebarn.org.  Kindred Spirits Sanctuary is kssfl.org.