CAS Has More Land For the Animals

CAS got some more land very close to their current farm. But there are a three barns on the property that need renovations. Please watch this video:

I volunteered at CAS on Sunday.

Atlas, The Goat

This is the goat, Atlas, that I mentioned Sunday. CAS made a video featuring him.

CAS in November With My Grandparents

Today I showed my grandparents CAS. They loved it. This pictures shows me with them and Amelia. When they left, I worked on helping with the horses. I cleaned a horse pasture, brought two horses into the barn and fed them. We had some problems getting the horse manure out of the back of the truck because the tailgate couldn't come down so we just shoveled it out and threw it over the side on the manure pile.

Here I am with my granddaddy, my sister and Buddy, the horse.

A sad thing happened recently, Atlas died. This is Atlas last February with a coat on. He was so sweet and would always stay in the barn, usually with Rambo, because his legs were stiff with arthritis.  Atlas will be missed!

Snow in October and Feeding the Horses

I worked at the Catskill Animal Sanctuary on Sunday. On Saturday our area had a lot of snow, in some places it was up to 2 feet, but at CAS it wasn't quite that much. There are still a lot of people without electricity in our area so I really wanted to make sure to get to CAS in case others couldn't.

On Sunday I mostly fed and cared for the horses. They either got hay or alfalfa. CAS recently got some horses from a woman who was mistreating them. Kathy Stevens told me that the horses were head-shy and said that meant they didn't like their heads touched and were probably hit. But now they are a lot more comfortable, at least they were around me.

The CAS YouTube channel has a video showing the horses and how they were when Kathy got them.

Back at the CAS on Sunday

I have been away all summer, but I got back to the Catskill Animal Sanctuary this Sunday. It was so great to be back. The place looked great but there was lots of water everywhere, especially in the goose pen. They've built a barn and have a CSA (community supported agriculture) going. They had a summer camp this summer.

Here's a video from some of the things from the day:



Some of the things I did Sunday: I picked up sticks that had fallen all over after all the rain and Hurricane Irene. The sticks were all in the animal's pens and along the sides of the roads. I then fed the geese. The geese kind of scare me but I used mind power over them to have them not scare me. They nip at me and it feels like I'm being pinched. I hopped in the truck with another volunteer to do the feed run but before that I cut up veggies. I fed the horses some hay but those that are under-sized, I fed alfalfa. Kathy Stevens said that alfafa is like chocolat cake to a horse, it fattens them up, but too much can not be too good for them.

Here are some pictures of the geese. One in winter:

And again on Sunday:

This is me cleaning some water bowls.

Amelia - The Pig

This is a favorite of mine, Amelia the little piglet. Here is what the CAS YouTube has about Amelia and her past life.
"Amelia was rescued from a woman with a long history of abuse towards her horses. Several months ago, when local authorities came by to investigate some complaints against her, they found Amelia wandering the property. Given that this individual had also begun breeding pitbulls, we believe that Amelia was meant to be used as "bait" to train the pitbulls to fight."

Building a Barn at CAS

The Catskill Animal Sanctuary is building a barn. Check it out. They need our help...

Sunday at CAS

I was at CAS today, on the day I usually go there. I like going on Sundays. Today I did a lot of vegetable cutting...a lot! Then I cleaned and swept out the barn. I also helped lead a horse back into the stall.

That was mostly it for today.

Heat Wave

It was really hot at CAS yesterday. I went there afterschool for a couple of hours. See this picture of the white board and notice what is written abut the rabbits needing ice water.

The first thing I did was drive around in a truck with Zack feeding the ducks, geese, horses and chickens. Then I re-bedded with shavings a horse stall. After that I cleaned out the barn and some of the horse stalls.

All the animals were just trying to stay as cool as possible by finding shade and staying comfortable.

Videos from CAS - CSA and Feeding the Pigs

Catskill Animal Sanctuary does a great job of spreading the good word about their wonderful work helping farm animals. They've got an active Flickr site and they upload videos to YouTube regularly. I'm fond of these two that just came out. The first is the weed garden, I mean the organic veggie garden, where Caleb and his mitzvah crew helped weed a couple of weeks ago. I think CAS is part of a CSA - Community Supported Agriculture.

And this one shows feeding the sweet yet grunty pigs. Who could not love a pig after seeing these big guys eating? They remind me of our cats. Now tell me the difference between a 'pet' and 'food.'

My Youth Group Came to CAS

Today my Jewish Youth Group from Congregation Shir Chadash joined me for a visit to the Catskill Animal Sanctuary. It was really fun! It was more than a visit, really, we did two projects to help out at the sanctuary. We could either paint the outside of the main office or we could help with gardening. We split up, but most people chose painting. I also did painting. It got a little messy partly because we all don't usually paint and also because it has rained so much that the area that we were painting was pretty muddy.

The gardening people pulled out weeds in a raised bed and found some vegetables in the beds. They were getting the beds ready for the summer camp coming soon.

After our work, we all had a picnic lunch under the willow tree. It was nice to be able to show my friends CAS and the animals there.

Monday at CAS

I haven't been to Catskill Animal Sanctuary in a while. I really miss it, but I got to go today after school. I was at CAS for about one and 1/2 hours.

Today I helped out by taking out the recycling, cutting up fruit and vegetables for the feeding the animals and sweeping up. It wasn't a lot but it was fun.

This coming Sunday my youth group from Shir Chadash is going to meet out at CAS and help do a project there. It's going to be nice to show them the animal sanctuary.

Pigs and Chickens

Sunday I helped out by raking out the pig pen (pot bellied pigs) and then putting new hay down.

Then I worked with another person to get the chickens back in the chicken coop. They have to go in there in the evening for their safety and warmth.

At the end I gave clean water to different animals. It was a sort of short day.

This picture is from CASanctuary Flickr page.

Goats at CAS...Follow the One With the Bucket!

I saw this video from a tweet showing feeding time at Catskill Animal Sanctuary. The goats are so cute and the horses look pretty excited too.

Painting Fences

Yesterday at CAS I painted horse fencing. It's what I did most of the day. There were a lot of volunteers out painting fence because there's a lot of fence at CAS. I realized that painting is a really slow process.

I took a break from painting and ate a burrito.

Another thing I did was sweep up the kitchen where we get the animal's food prepared and I rolled up a hose next to the kitchen.

When I got to CAS, the baby pig, Amelia, had some green stripes along her sides. It turns out that she rubbed herself along a freshly painted green building that was done the day before. She has paint on her ears too.

The sheep Rambo has bad arthritis. I didn't realize it until he was trying to get up from his hay pile. He got up half way and his front legs were still down but his hind legs were straight up. Then he finally pushed himself up and stiffly walked away. Two chickens were laying right next to him on the hay. It was really cute.

Water Troughs, Hay and Chickens

I worked at CAS on Saturday instead of Sunday. It was warm and there were more volunteers than usual, plus, because it is Spring now, the visiting hours have started. The first thing I did on Saturday was wash and clean out the horse's water trough. It was pretty sludgy. Then I filled it full of fresh water.

Then I loaded hay onto two trucks. Then we drove around on a Gator to try to find a pot bellied pig that we thought had gotten loose only to find out that the pig had been recently adopted.

I also helped get some loose chickens into their coop. That was fun but then there were two of them that I couldn't help with because they were a little vicious.

On Sunday, my class from Shir Chadash went to Ellis Island and the Museum of Jewish Heritage. It was really interesting and fun.

Temple Grandin at Ulster Co Community College - April 21

For those interested in the ethical treatment of farm animals, you might be interested in an upcoming talk by Temple Grandin. The talk is April 21 at the Ulster County Community College, Quimby Theater in Stone Ridge, NY.

Here is some more information on Ms Grandin.

Geese Can be Intimidating

Today I arrived a little early because I had to leave early. It was again beautiful out and kind of warm. I fed the geese and a horse. The geese were a little scary today. I felt like they were going to bite me. They didn't because I was able to shoo them away but I was worried. Also, they hiss.

I was trying to change the water for one of the horses and when I went into go to the water trough, the horse reached down and tried to nip at me. So, again, I was a little scared.

Another thing I did was work with another kid who volunteers at Catskill Animal Sanctuary (Teddy) picking up sticks out of the pig pen.

Feeling Like Spring at CAS

This blog post is a little late because I got behind this week. I was at the Catskill Animal Sanctuary on Sunday 3/12.

It seems like now that we're in spring, everything is a bit more open. On Sunday the windows and doors of the different animal pens were open and the animals seemed more lively, happy, and talkative.

When I started the day at CAS, the first thing I did was I got three bales of hay and put them in the pot bellied pig pen and then spread the bales around. They really like to go inside the fresh hay and bury themselves. I saw one of them do it. And then I changed their water.

I cut vegetables and fruit for the animals and gave them each a cup of the mixture that I made.

I then went around in a truck and helped feed the animals - horses, pigs, and goats - different things like hay and the bowls of fruit that I cut up for them.

A Wet but Warmer Day at the Animal Sanctuary

Yesterday at CAS was awesome. It was really very foggy out and rainy but it wasn't as cold as it has been.

I started out the day by cutting up fruit and veggies - carrots, bananas and apples - for the pigs and putting it all in a bucket. And I filled a large bin with grain for the chickens.

Most of the time, though, I cleaned out this empty chicken coop. I cleaned up the outside of it and made it nice. From the inside of the chicken coop I shoveled out so much chicken poop that one wheel barrow wasn't enough, I needed to get a second one. One was way too heavy. Then I took both wheel barrows and unloaded them onto a manure spreader (see the picture below).

It's Getting Warmer at the Farm

Last weekend was my birthday so I didn't go to the Catskill Animal Sanctuary but today was much warmer than it has been. The first thing I did was scoop food out for the chickens.

Then another volunteer and I went out to a barn in a pick-up truck and we shoveled out old hay out of the barn and into the truck bed. Then we drove the old hay to this huge hay and manure pile and unloaded it.

After that I chopped up carrots, tomatoes, celery, grapes, string beans, apples and bananas for the pigs. I threw it all in a bucket and other volunteers and workers at CAS fed the pigs.

I swept out the excess hay from a different pick-up truck and put it into a wheelbarrow and took out the garbage in the kitchen.

I really like being out on the farm, the animals are really great. Here are some pictures from today.

Watering, Feeding and Grooming

On Sunday I was at the Catskill Animal Sanctuary and it wasn't as cold as it has been. The first thing I did was, in the barn, I gave the chickens and a pig more water. I cleared out the old water into a wheelbarrow and dumped it outside. Here's a video of my day.



The piglet Amelia can be mad annoying to all the other animals but she's still really cute.

I brushed five horses to get the dust and dirt out of their fur.

I fed a bunch of pot bellied pigs this grain-like stuff and some fruit. They attack the food when you put it down by stuffing their faces in it.

I chopped vegetables - cucumbers, leeks, asparagus - for the pigs.

The day was fun.

Another Cute Piglet Video

It's kind of hard to resist cute little pig videos, especially when the piglet is chasing a dog...and winning. This is Hannah (the dog) and Amelia (the piglet) that Caleb mentioned on Sunday and can be found on the Catskill Animal Sanctuary's YouTube channel.

It Wasn't As Cold Today

I cleared out a lot of poo again today. I shoveled poop. Do you know, cows are huge?

I fed the animals today, too. Horses, cows, pigs and goats. They all eat hay. Except the goats get lured into their building with grain then they eat hay. The goats stay inside for the night.

The pigs are super huge. A couple of pot bellied pigs escaped their pens. It was fun and cute but we had to round them up.

Amelia the piglet didn't grow much bigger from last week. Amelia was playing with Kathy's (who is the CAS founder) black lab dog named Hannah and it was so cute. See another video of Amelia below.

It wasn't as cold today so I didn't have to be in a coat, which was very nice. I was able to move around more. I think that the animals like the warmer weather better but I didn't notice any behavioral changes.

Here's a video from CAS's YouTube channel showing Amelia going to Petsmart.

Piglet Video

This piglet is so cute; Caleb gets a real charge out of her.

Lot's of Shoveling

Today I shoveled the pens. A lot of shoveling.

And I played with a piglet.

Video of Izzy - The Miniature Horse for Adoption

I saw this on Twitter today. This horse, Izzy, is the miniature horse that Caleb saw on Sunday and is up for adoption. Super cute!

Caleb's Mitzah Project: Catskill Animal Sanctuary

Our son, Caleb, is turning 13 in February and his bar mitzah is in October. As part of his b'nai mitzvah he is volunteering at the Catskill Animal Sanctuary in Saugerties, New York, where abused farm animals have come since 2001 for shelter, a better life (or a chance at life) and the potential to be adopted. Caleb loves animals, wants to be a veterinarian, and is a vegetarian so this choice of volunteerism aligns with his areas of interest and beliefs. Plus the animal sanctuary can really use his help, especially in this cold weather (see below). This blog was started to show Caleb's friends and family what he is doing at the CAS.

Here is a very interesting Huffington Post piece written by Kathy Stevens, the CAS founder. It's called "Getting By With a Little Help From Our Animal Friends."

The First Day at Catskill Animal Sanctuary

I am volunteering at the Catskill Animal Sanctuary as part of my bar mitzah project. Today was very very cold. I wore ski pants and big boots to keep warm.

The first thing I did today was shovel hay into a goat pen.

We drove around in a 4 x 4 truck to get from place to place. We fed goats, pigs, horses. The horses were mildly simple to feed. One of them we fed with a bucket but the others we put the food on the ground. The bucket fed horse was a miniature horse (Izzy).

The goats were very fun. We had to very quietly pass the food onto another person who shakes the food, and then you can sneak the food into the goats.

We saw a piglet, which was very small and very cute. They just got it.