Rural Missouri - November 2011 - (Page 20)

SECOND CHANCE RANCH Farm animals get a new lease on life at Longmeadow Rescue Ranch Once abandoned, potbellied pigs Shadow and Walter enjoy a nap in the morning sun after spending time playing at Longmeadow Rescue Ranch near Union. unable to keep the animal. “We also have strays that have been abandoned or unclaimed,” says Amanda. “Stray goats, pigs, chickens. alter moseys toward the Horses abandoned, found grazing in barn to see his buddy. parks. It’s sad what desperation makes He pauses in front of people do, especially in today’s diffithe stall, grunts, then cult economy.” looks up at the open half door. Other animals in the ranch’s care His buddy, Twister, sticks his nose include llamas, sheep, donkeys, ducks out of the stall, tosses his head and and geese, to name a few of the critters snorts, regarding his short friend. They that have been rescued or are in rehaspend a quiet moment, then Walter, a bilitation. While they’ve had 350 potbellied pig heads back at one time, Amanda says 200 to his barn for a nap. Life to 250 animals is a more comis good for both of them fortable level. Of those, now, although that wasn’t equine species usually always the case. Union• make up half that numWalter and Twister are just ber at any given time. two of the hundreds of farm Amanda, who’s animals currently residing at been working at the Longmeadow Rescue Ranch ranch for seven years, near Union. Founded in 1988, only has a staff of 12, the 165-acre ranch is owned and which includes a horse trainer and a operated by the Humane Society of volunteer/service coordinator. The rest Missouri and serves as a rehabilitation of the much-needed help comes from home for neglected or abused horses the nearly 80 volunteers. Some come and farm animals. The land was left twice a week, others twice a month. to the group by George Packwood, an And while that sounds like a lot of ardent animal lover who believed in help, they can always use more. what the organization was doing in “One of the most important jobs Missouri. volunteers do is to spend healing time “He had the vision to see the need with the animals who need to figure for neglected or abused farm animals out that people are good and that to have a safe haven,” says ranch we’re here to help,” adds Amanda. director Amanda Mullen. “We tend Twister, a thoroughbred, has been to think of dogs and cats when we at the farm all his life. Oddly enough, hear of animals being mistreated, but a horrible accident along Interstate 44, there’s an entire segment of the large not too far from the ranch, actually animal population that’s forgotten.” saved Twister’s life. According to Amanda, most of Amanda recalls the early morning the animals that end up at the ranch hours of Sept. 27, 2006, when she have been rescued as the result of law received the 3 a.m. call. Forty-two enforcement seizures, such as Walhorses were in an overcrowded, tracter, usually happen when someone’s by Heather Berry hberry@ruralmissouri.coop Above: Horse trainer Scott Jaycox, left, enjoys a moment with Corazon and his new owners, E north of Bolivar. Below: Students from the University of Missouri School of Veterinary Medicin tor-trailer headed eastbound on the highway when the semi overturned in the median. “We loaded a trailer with panels so we could help contain the horses as they started cutting the trailer open,” recalls Amanda. “It was every bit as horrible as you could ever imagine.” During that long, early-morning rescue, 25 horses and one hinny (the offspring of a female donkey and a male horse) were rescued. Many of the horses received extensive medical care from various equine hospitals in the vicinity and eventually ended up at the ranch for rehabilitation. “That trailer load was actually headed to a slaughterhouse in Illinois,” says Amanda. “Unfortunately, those animals had to go through a traumatic experience, but in the long run, I’m sure they’d say it was well worth it.” Twister’s mother might have miscarried that night had it not been for the watchful eye of veterinarians and the Longmeadow staff. On April 18, 2007, the thoroughbred called “Momma” gave birth to a colt whose official name is, appropriately enough, “Twist of Fate.” Most know him as Twister however. The loving 4-year-old gelding seems to be the unofficial, permanent mascot for the ranch these days. Word of his survival story spread across the entire United States, and school groups come from miles around to meet him. There’s even been a children’s book written about his experience (To see a portrait of Twister and read about his book, see page 38.) While Twister may be one of the more famous residents at the ranch, several of the rescued animals are part W of the Barn Buddy animal sponsorship program. If you’ve ever wanted to own a large animal but don’t have a good place to raise them, this program is for you. For $25 to $2,400, you, a club or school group can sponsor anything from a duck to a horse, including Twister. When rescuef animals arrive at the ranch, they’re first evaluated by a veterinarian, put on a treatment protocol, dewormed, vaccinated, set on a refeeding schedule and placed in quarantine for a length of time that 20 WWW.RURALMISSOURI.COOP http://WWW.RURALMISSOURI.COOP

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Rural Missouri - November 2011

Rural Missouri - November 2011
Table of Contents
Comments
Columns
In search of Missouri mills
Co-ops take action
Outdoors
Best of rural Missouri
Out of the Way Eats
Second chance ranch
Grant takes command
Hearth and Home
News Briefs
The hillbilly approach to the Woodstock nation
Marketplace
Around Missouri
Neighbors
Just4Kids

Rural Missouri - November 2011

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