Vegetarian Beef Farmer Sends His Cows to Hillside...

In April 2017 we were asked to take in a herd of 70 cattle, including 30 pregnant cows after a massive turnaround in thinking by the farmer, a vegetarian, who could no longer bear to send his cows to the slaughterhouse. Instead, he got in touch with theVegan Society,who contacted Hillside to ask if we could give the cows a permanent safe home in the sanctuary.

Jay, the farmer, had grown up working with the family’s herd of cows but, over time, has seen that there was much more to these animals than we are led to believe.

He said ‘Ibegantoseethatcows recogniseeachother , andthey’ve got verygoodmemories.Theyalso experiencearangeofemotions–they canbesad,happy,bored,excited.They doalsohavefacialexpressions.You can tellwhatacow’sthinkingbylookingat it.I’ve even seen cows cry. Cows are consciousofwhatgoes on around them–theyhavepersonalitiesandan innerlife. They’renotjustunitsof food.Knowingthempersonally makes it moredifficulttothinkabout eatingthem. ’

We were happy to welcome Jay’s cows to the Sanctuary. During the summer all the pregnant cows safely gave birth to calves and they will all stay together as a herd for the rest of their natural days.

The story of Jay’s cows coming to Hillside was featured on BBC Countryfile in July 2017.

Twin Foals Born to Rescued Mare...

This year we had around 60 rescued mares, mostly from stray horse pounds, who came to us pregnant and were waiting to give birth. Staff watched over them day and night to assist if necessary to ensure the foals were born safely. One rescued Thoroughbred mare gave birth in the early hours of the morning and surprised us with twin foals - a colt and a filly! When scanning the mares, our vet advised that one may be carrying twins,but this wasn't the mare!

The first, smaller, foal was safely born while the mare, who we took in after she had been abandoned in Cheshire last year, needed our help to deliver the second, larger twin.Apparently, the odds of both twin foals surviving is just 10,000 to 1! We are pleased to report that both are growing up to be strong and healthy foals.

Cows Arrive From Ireland...

Jessie’s Moneybox...

Poor Jessie was devastated when heartless thieves ransacked the contents of her family's car and emptied her Hillside collection box of the donations she had been carefully saving to hand in to a Hillside Open Day.

However, when we let our supporters know what had happened, they sprang into action and donated to help Jessie refill her moneybox. Jessie's big frown was soon turned into a beaming smile,and everyone at Hillside was smiling too,when we counted all the donations and found £2415 had been raised for our rescued animals.

We were thrilled to welcome Jessie to our Open Day, (right) where she handed in a further £120 that her family and friends had donated to make up for the actions of the cruel thieves.

An elderly dairy farmer in Ireland who saw BBC Countryfile’s coverage of the vegetarian farmer whose cows came to Hillside (seepage12) asked if we would also give her cows a home.

It was clear that she loved them very much and we were so pleased that, with the help of our supporters, we were able to give this gentle herd a home for life.

A total of 45 cows and 18 calves arrived during 2017 with 20 more expected in spring 2018.