On 6th September 2026, the Little Red Barn Sanctuary in Canada launched an urgent appeal to rescue Mama Jersey, an almost eight-year-old cow who had been pulled off the milking line at a dairy farm after developing a severe abscess on her hoof. Despite proper hoof care and the fitting of a hoof block, the wound had failed to heal, and she needed soft footing and rest to recover. She had also injured her already weak back leg after catching herself in the bars of her stall.
The dairy farm had agreed to release Mama Jersey to the sanctuary, which needed to raise $2,500 to cover her transport and veterinary care. The sanctuary said, “We need to fundraise $2500 for her including vet care. There is also a chance we can reunite her with her bull calf which would be amazing…with Daisy being so frail, we believe they will make good friends. We don’t know if we can heal her but we have to try.
Two days later, on 8th September 2026, the sanctuary announced that the cow, whom they renamed Mama Jersey Elise, had been reunited with her calf, Levi, from whom she had been separated for almost three weeks since his birth. The pair lay together, comforting one another, while Elise continued to be treated for her infected and painful hoof.
The Little Red Barn Sanctuary said, “This is what sanctuary means in the Little Red Barn… Mama is in a serious health crisis with her infected and painful hoof, but we can already see hope again beginning to shine through in her eyes.”
The sanctuary also said that Daisy, a frail sheep already living there, was expected to become a good companion for Elise as she settles in.
