Life with Pigs

Life with Pigs Farm Animal Sanctuary is a nonprofit sanctuary in Williamsburg, VA. Donate now to help us save animals and change hearts and minds! Link below.

[Life with Pigs @LifewithPigs]

Happy Birthday to my best friend Jenna! Can’t believe you are 4!!! So glad you escaped the dairy industry and let me learn to be a cow parent with you!

[Life with Pigs @LifewithPigs]

Quincy wanted to share a special message from a turkey’s perspective this Thanksgiving.

And we need your support more than ever to keep being able to share these special messages and give our animals the most amazing lives for years to come, so please help us continue to make that possible ♥️

Support Our Sanctuary at https://t.co/V8GflZLmEB

[Life with Pigs @LifewithPigs]

Our beautiful little sunflower, Edna. 🌻 She’s the sweetest little ray of sunshine to wake up to. Every morning she’s so excited to come say hello and get loved on, and I’m just as happy to see her as she is to see me.

When she comes over for her morning love, it’s hard to believe that a little over a year ago, she was living alone in the forest after being dumped by her previous family.

I think about how that must feel for an animal. One day you have a home and people you trust, and suddenly you’re somewhere unfamiliar, trying to find food and a safe place to sleep. And you have no way of knowing why the people you depended on are gone.

I wish I could tell Edna that she’ll always have a home here. So I tell her the way I can, by showing up every morning, saying hello, and giving her all the love she came over for. 💛

Support Our Sanctuary at https://t.co/V8GflZKOP3

[Life with Pigs @LifewithPigs]

Get your calendar at https://t.co/0VlLxtA99v

[Life with Pigs @LifewithPigs]

Want to see our adorable animal family every day next year? 🐷🐮🦃

Bring a little Life With Pigs into your mornings with our 2027 Daily Calendar. Even on the busiest days, there’ll be a sweet face waiting to make you smile. 💛
Order yours today!

[Life with Pigs @LifewithPigs]

We’re eight days away from meeting Gwen, so naturally I dressed Mallory up as a giant sunflower for a maternity photo shoot and asked Jareth to join her. He took his job very seriously, as you can tell by the look on his face. 🌻

I love that someday we’ll get to show Gwen this photo and tell her that while we were waiting for her, her mom put on giant yellow petals and snuggled a rooster because that’s what maternity photos look like around here.

Eight more days, little Gwen. We can’t wait to hold you. 💛

[Life with Pigs @LifewithPigs]

In honor of Skid Row finding there new singer @justinmsargent I wanted to share when Jenna and I gave the @officialskidrow classic a spin on the 12-string. And Jenna seemed to enjoy adding the challenge of a few horn to guitar collisions. But it wouldn’t be TuneTastic Tuesday without Jenna adding a little Jenna flair to the mix.

And if you love this amazing song written by @officialrachelbolan and @snakesabo16 , be sure to follow them! And hopefully we will be a stop on there 2027 tour plan.

So, here is to remembering yesterday, walking hand in hand, love letters in the sand….

[Life with Pigs @LifewithPigs]

Holidays don’t have to involve suffering. Over 40 million innocent victims lose their lives for Thanksgiving dinner every year. Choosing plant-based roasts is a great way to stop the suffering ♥️ Kindness feels great and tastes great too.

[Life with Pigs @LifewithPigs]

We do it so they can do what they do! Snuggle, enjoy life, and live happily ever after. Your gift keeps Jenna, Maisie and all of our rescued family safe, fed and loved. If that feels like a happily ever after worth building, please donate today. ❤️

Support Our Sanctuary at https://t.co/V8GflZLmEB

[Life with Pigs @LifewithPigs]

The sweet innocence of a sleeping knucklehead ♥️ We love you Jenna.

[Life with Pigs @LifewithPigs]

We can’t wait to meet Gwynevere! We are going to the hospital in 11 days to start the induction process. We hope you will love her the way you have loved the rest of our family ♥️ It will be a whole new adventure happening here soon.

[Life with Pigs @LifewithPigs]

When Jenna came into our lives on November 6, 2018, she was just three days old, and someone had already decided her life wasn’t worth keeping.

She was born on a North Carolina dairy farm, a twin to a male calf. Female calves born with a male twin are usually infertile, and because Jenna wasn’t expected to have babies and produce milk, the farm considered her useless. She had been taken from her mother, marked with pink spray paint, and was going to be killed.

But the farmer’s daughter saw two babies who she didn’t want to die. She convinced her father to let her find a home for the calves, and Jenna’s home became Life With Pigs. The farmer’s daughter was named Jenna, too, and our Jenna carries the name of the person who gave her a chance.

It’s painful to think that the same thing that put Jenna’s life in danger also spared her the future most female calves kept for dairy production face. Or worse the fate of non milk producing cows, early elimination.

Cows only produce milk after having a baby. On most dairy farms, calves are separated from their mothers shortly after birth, and the daughters kept for milk production grow up to that same cycle themselves. They are bred, give birth, and have their calves taken away while their milk is sold to people. They are bred again to continue that cycle, often while still being milked from the previous pregnancy. No part of this process benefits the cows. It is done for profit for humans. And is completely unnecessary for human health.

When milk production falls, fertility declines, or health problems make keeping them less profitable, cows are commonly sent to slaughter. There is usually no retirement waiting for them.

Knowing Jenna makes that reality feel unbearably personal!

Please, when you see her, think of the mothers and daughters who never get this chance. Choosing plant-based milk is one way to help change their story.

Become part of Jenna’s story: https://t.co/nBu9H91AYf

[Life with Pigs @LifewithPigs]

Do Cows Have Best Friends? 🐮❤️

Absolutely! And the emotional lives of cows are so much deeper and more complex than most people realize. Jenna and Maisie are incredibly close, and neither is happy when they have to be apart from the other.

And this isn't just something we've noticed from living with cows. Scientific research has found that cows develop meaningful social relationships, show preferences for particular companions, and often form lasting connections with individuals they've known for years.

Studies have shown that cows choose to spend more time near certain friends, rest and eat beside them, and groom one another as a form of social bonding. Researchers have even found that cows paired with their preferred companions can have lower heart rates during stressful situations than cows paired with less familiar or less preferred individuals. In other words, who a cow is with can make a real difference in how secure and comfortable she feels.

Research has also found that calves can develop social preferences early in life that persist as they grow older. These aren't simply animals standing near one another by coincidence. They are individuals who recognize one another, develop preferences, and build relationships through shared experiences.

Watching Jenna and Maisie together makes all of this feel so obvious. They seek each other out, find comfort in each other's company, and make it very clear when they don't appreciate being separated. Their friendship is a beautiful reminder that cows have rich social lives that matter deeply to them.

And perhaps that's one of the saddest things about how our society treats these wonderful animals. So often, we think about cows in terms of what humans can take from them, without ever stopping to consider what matters to them. Their friendships, their families, their preferences, and the individuals they love are all part of lives that have value far beyond anything they could ever provide to us.

Jenna and Maisie aren't just two cows who happen to live together. They're two individuals who have chosen each other. And their friendship deserves to be respected. ❤️🐮

[Life with Pigs @LifewithPigs]

Why is a 17 year old hurting animals considered a future serial killer but an 18 year old hurting animals for pay considered just a part of the food production system. The only difference is payment…

[Life with Pigs @LifewithPigs]

Good Morning Sweet Window Cow!

[Life with Pigs @LifewithPigs]

Anyone else have the problem of having cows show up at your window demanding carrots?!?

[Life with Pigs @LifewithPigs]

🚨 Bonnie Update!

Last week we noticed Bonnie down on her front knees. Since then she has been spending time recovering in our front yard where we can see and spend time with her easily. We did find a crack in the side of one hoof so we aren't sure whether this is a foot issue or potentially a worsening of her arthritis (or both). We have a new pain medication to try and some hoof ointment, so we are hoping for an improvement. We also have an animal Reiki practitioner who has graciously been volunteering her time with Bonnie in the mornings.

Bonnie has had frequent visits from Piper and Huckleberry and seems content in her recovery spot. She still jumps up for treats and gives a stern headbutt to the other sheep when needed (she's still the boss, after all). She has also received a haircut from Ryan that she may or may not have consented to.

We are still very worried about Bonnie, though she seems to be handling things well. It may be time to make some permanent accommodations for her so that she can be comfortable with her family and avoid being bullied by a particular goat (she shall not be named here, though she is the only goat).

We just want Bonnie to be feeling as good as she can in her senior years, and we want to give her as much time with her loved ones as possible. If you'd like to help Bonnie, you can sign up to be her sponsor or give a gift sponsorship to someone for the holidays!

[Life with Pigs @LifewithPigs]

Good morning from the Back Window Cow Drive Thru with our sweet blind dwarf cow Annie. We are so lucky to have Annie in our lives. She is so lovable even if a little zealous for treats.

[Life with Pigs @LifewithPigs]

For Jenna’s 8th birthday, here is the song I wrote for her. And it could
Be aptly called “My Sweet Knucklehead” ♥️

I can’t imagine a world without you!

And we are so grateful to all of you that have shared how deeply Jenna has impacted your lives!

[Life with Pigs @LifewithPigs]

Happy birthday Jenna ♥️. Eight years of being my best friend and favorite knucklehead! You better live forever because I cannot imagine a world without you.

Support Our Sanctuary at https://t.co/796juONTIp

[Life with Pigs @LifewithPigs]

They say love hurts… and they are right 🤣 Oh Jenna, my goofy girl ♥️