Once food, now friends, cattle enjoy eight years of plenty at an Ontario animal sanctuary

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Eight years ago, a third-generation cattle rancher named Mike Lanigan met a premature calf named Hope who changed his life. In late August, employees, volunteers and visitors came together to celebrate the eight-year anniversary of Farmhouse Gardens Animal Home, a ranch-turned-sanctuary committed to the well-being of its cows.

After Hope was born, she required a lot of care and attention in order to survive and Mr. Lanigan began to consider the implication of pouring so much love into an animal only to have it slaughtered a few years later. He wondered whether there was another way.

Executive director Edith Barabash had been working with Mr. Lanigan since she was a teenager, selling his produce at a farmer’s market in Thornhill, Ont., where she grew up. She had also spent several summers on the ranch and had taken a keen interest in animal rights. The two came together to transform Mr. Lanigan’s business model and his relationship to his animals.

Eight years later, Farmhouse Garden Animal Home survives – along with all of its bovine residents – by selling organic produce and through fundraising efforts, which often include interaction with the animals: 24 cows, six hens, two ducks, a rooster, a donkey, and a horse. Events such as anniversary parties help put food on the table and in the mouths of the cows that collectively eat 450 kilograms each day. The bovines also bring joy to people of all ages, who roam the property with baskets of fruit and vegetables, big smiles, and slobber-covered hands.

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