In Tennessee this week, we rescued a beautiful cow named Maybelle and brought her home to meet Team Dudley.

Maybelle was used as a dairy cow her entire life. Cows are mammals, and just like all mammals including dogs, horses, and people, cows only have milk for a baby. Maybelle was impregnated each year. However, they didn't want her babies, they just wanted her breast milk. Each year her babies were taken away as Maybelle cried and the milk was taken for human consumption.

When dairy cows are older and ready to retire, they are typically sent to slaughter. Luckily in Maybelle’s case, she belonged to a family who wanted to thank her for her years of service and didn't want to see her destroyed. They found out about our programs for children and wanted to see Maybelle heal children while being taken care of.

Maybelle walked innocently and obediently onto the trailer this week with big curious eyes looking out of the windows as we drove. Instead of driving her to her death, we drove her to The Gentle Barn to be loved and respected for the rest of her life. For so many years Maybelle was told what to do and how she was expected to behave, with no regard to her preferences, feelings, or opinions. We will spend the rest of her life allowing her to have a voice and giving her dignity back. In time, she'll come to trust us and see us as her family. We will work tirelessly to earn that place in her heart, as she has already won ours!

Meanwhile, we will keep yearning for the day that humans no longer enslave animals, relying on them for their meat and milk, ripping apart families and treating them as objects. One day we will go to the gardens for nourishment and to the animals for hugs.

Please come see Maybelle when you can and help us give her a warm welcome.

Ellie Laks-Weiner
Founder
The Gentle Barn