Please Do Not Tap On the Glass

Today was my first day volunteering at Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary.

I loved it. There was a lot of poop.

Yesterday’s visit from Tropical Storm Hanna delayed my “debut” as a farm hand until this morning and it proved lucky. A new Meetup group of animal rights activists from the District arrived at the same time as I did and we all shared the chores. Even with a group of about eight volunteers, I left the farm pretty tired.

Apologies for not taking any photos but we were just too busy to whip out the celly cams. We started in the yard and barn for the goats and sheep. My job was to rake up all the poop into a pile. While I did that, the other volunteers were raking up wet hay from yesterday’s storm. We helped each other get the wet hay and poop into about three large wheelbarrows, sprinkled some Stall Dry (diatomaceous earth and clay), spread some fresh hay and we were off to the horse barn.

Pretty much the same ritual in the horse barn but with a bonus! We got to brush the horses and mules. I’ve never actually brushed down a horse before but I’ve seen it done and Terry (one of the owners) showed me how. The horse I was brushing was really big and she didn’t seem to enjoy getting brushed while eating. She moved away and I followed to get her other side, brushing her flanks and even her legs. That’s the most horse maintenance I’ve ever done and I’m rather proud of myself. Next the horses get sprayed with a fly repellent, but the mules – Hal and Gloria – aren’t crazy about the spray. So two of us were given cloths soaked in the fly spray to rub down the mules. I got to rub down Hal, who still doesn’t like it even when it’s not being sprayed on him. I stayed clear of his back end as he moved around (I remember my Dad telling me stories about kicking mules) and we got him covered. Then we put fly masks on all of the horses and mules and let them out to pasture.

We were unable to help out with the pigs because most of us weren’t wearing muck boots. I’ll get a pair of those soon because I don’t like missing out on time with the piggies!

Our next task, and the one I liked least, was cleaning up the cow pies from along the paths where visitors walk. The dry ones are no problem but those fresh cow pies are not nice. I figure if you’re going to visit a farm you gotta expect you’ll step in some sorta poop.

The last stop was the chicken/turkey/peacock/peahen/bunny barn. Two of us raked up wet hay and raked up as many feathers as we could find. We discovered two very small chickens, about half the size of the others, and my Dad (the former farm boy) told me they’re called “banty hens.” I’ll have to look ‘em up because I like knowing all the species and subspecies. We raked up more wet hay, put down more Stall Dry, and spread more hay around. It took a little more than three hours just to do those chores and none of us sat down or stopped moving once. We carried huge buckets of wet hay and poop and raked up everything in sight.

Some people left right away but some of us stayed behind to chat or eat lunch. I was drinking water and enjoying a Tofutti Cutie when Chelsea, one of the goats, decided she needed some of my Cutie. She walked up and lifted her head and plastered herself against me. When I ignored her, she started to nibble my elbow. When that didn’t work she started to nibble my T-shirt! She was persistent until I was finished. Then she didn’t want anything else to do with me.

I had an interesting chat with Terry about my zoo volunteering and I’m really close to making a decision. I’ll write more about that later when I get everything clear in my mind. I would love to volunteer at the farm a couple of times a month because I get to be close to the non-human animals and really help with their care. If you get a chance to volunteer at a farm sanctuary … DO IT.

s.

Filed under: animal rights, factory farming, veganism Tagged: | farm sanctuary, poplar spring