06/23/2026
Back in December of 2016, we took him in after he was born by accident on an Angus farm, a calf nobody had planned for and nobody was prepared to care for. He was just a baby when we noticed something was wrong. While he was nursing from his bottle and trying to play like any little one should, he was struggling to breathe. We discovered a mass in his trachea that was putting him in respiratory distress.
What followed was not easy. Kip went through invasive surgery, then a second procedure, and spent a couple of weeks in the hospital fighting for a normal life before he ever really got to start one. He was tiny. The odds felt enormous.
But he made it.
Today, Kip is healthy, strong, and one of the oldest residents here at the sanctuary. He has spent years grazing in open pasture, soaking up the sun, and forming the kind of lasting bonds that only a long life well lived can bring. The little calf who once couldn’t catch his breath now lounges in the grass without a care in the world.
We think about this often: Kip is here because people showed up for him when we were just getting started. Those early supporters could not have known the years of contentment they were making possible. That is the quiet truth about this work. A single act of generosity, however small, can ripple outward into years of comfort for a life that would have had none.
Kip is our reminder of what sanctuary really means. He is living proof that small donations are never really small.
Thank you for being part of his story!! 💚💚💚
