Maybelle was a dairy cow in Tennessee who had spent eight years producing milk for her previous owners. She was well cared for and healthy, but many dairy cows are no longer as productive once they’re over the age of five.
Her owners, Mennonites, were grateful for all her years of service and were happy to surrender her to a sanctuary called The Gentle Barn.
Manager of the sanctuary, Andrea Burritt, eagerly welcomed Maybelle in. The cow would never have to produce milk for people again.
Instead, she’d get to spend her time in comfy stalls with deep bedding and grazing in the idyllic pastures on the sanctuary grounds.
Despite these wonderful settings, Maybelle was frantic. She’d pace, and cry, and bellow.
Burritt was concerned, and it was difficult for her to see the cow so distressed. “It was awful,” she said. “She was pleading with us.
“She would look you right in the eye, and just scream. You knew something was wrong, and it was just hard trying to figure out how we could help and what we could do.”
The only other time Burritt had seen a cow this unsettled was when it had been separated from its baby. No one knew if Maybelle had a baby or not, but she was certainly acting like it.
