It's Maria's MutS and Stuff. What a great idea, fun I heard radio
Welcome to Maria's MutS and Stuff and with me today. I'm so very excited
to learn and to talk with Danielle Mania about Utter Chaos Farm Sanctuary. So,
Danielle, thanks for taking some time out. Yeah, thank you so
much for having me. Absolutely, so let's talk about it. It is
a farm sanctuary that is in right down New Jersey and how long has it
been in existence? So we actually just turned to at the end of June.
We took over an old beef cattle farm. Actually it was my grandfather's
friend's farm. He ended up passing away from his injuries from a fire there
and we just knew that we couldn't, you know, let anything happen to
these animals, So we took over from there. We started with ten cats.
All of them are pregnant because it was a beast catle operation. Sure,
and so now we have sixteen. We've grown quite a little heard in
the last two years. Um, you know, everybody's been neutered since um
and we've been able to rescue a couple more goats in the last two years
as well. Oh my goodness, that's amazing that. I mean, I'm
sorry about your grandfather's friend. Um, but I feel like as a result
of that tragedy, it's it's this blossomed out of it, like kudos to
you, thank you. Yeah, it's definitely been a very interesting journey over
the last two years. But uh yeah, we know, make the best
of it and tried to keep all the cows happy and safe and give them
there forever home. Wow. Yeah, I'm sure. So did you have
any farming in your background or was this like baptism by fire that you learned
as you went along? For sure, baptism by fire. I have a
background in animal affair and just working in different animal shelters over the last probably
thirteen years or so. Okay, so dogs, cats, gerasing, stuff
like that. I've done farm animals. It's a totally different world. Yeah,
it's crazy. Well tell me saying it's crazy, what's one of the
craziest or um, Like, yeah, what's something that the most unexpected thing
that would happen that knowing stuff about dogs, you'd be like, oh,
I know this is I know how to do this. But it was something
crazy that happened. Honestly, just trying to even get a vet to come
out, and just learning the different types of cows and different breeds and everything
like that was really difficult. There's such a shortage of veterinarians already across the
US, even just for dogs, cats, private practice everything like that,
so trying to find a farm vet that actually has cow experience really difficult too.
So we're lucky that, you know, after some difficult trials and yeah
issues that we've had going on, everybody's now healthy, happy, we have
a great vet that comes out. I luckily, with my background animal affair,
I can the least like administer my own vaccines if I need to.
But we have a vet that comes out for all emergency stuff and whatever else
that we could possibly need. That's definitely been the hardest. Um even just
trying to figure out how to use a tractor. Oh, I'm sure that
you know that was not my five year plan things to learn And yeah,
well that makes sense. I mean that's something crazy like Okay, I saw
a tractor on green acres, but I don't know how to use it,
you know, Yeah, And like I can't drive stick a stick car,
manual car, and then trying to hop on like a massive tractor and that's
all manual. I'm like, well, I guess I'll figure out how to
use a clutch today, right right, I can imagine. Yeah. And
do you have like a big staff, do you have a many people to
help you or I have a feeling you're small. It's small. Yeah,
we're very small. All so we all of the donations that go towards the
farms stay at the farm. We don't really we don't pay anybody for their
salaries. Um. I have a full time job outside of it. My
boyfriend is a full time job outside of it as well. But we do
have a team of about ten or so really cool volunteers that come pretty much
once a week, sometimes twice a week, and they help us out tremendously
throughout the day. That's amazing. So you could definitely use volunteers in like
the New Jersey area, correct, New York, New Jersey area, Yeah,
definitely. And we set up a couple of volunteer days for the people
that can't volunteer as regular as we need them to. So we'll do like
group volunteer days about once a month every other month, especially in the warmer
weather, right right. And then do you get do you get like you
know, every once in a while and it goes and it's all over the
news all the time. If if a cow runs away from a slaughterhouse and
then it goes to a sanctuary, would a cow like that come to you
you to utter chaos? We would love too. That is the main goal
we've been able to, like I said before, like rescue some more goats.
There was one goat on the property when we took it over. So
we've been able to add actually five more on a couple more coming in a
couple of weeks. A wow. The situation that we've been working on,
So the smaller animals have been easier to manage right now, but we're still
recovering a lot of the property to make sure we have proper quarantine areas if
we do bring in more cattle and stuff like that. I mean, starting
with sixteen cows was very costly. Oh, I'm sure. I mean,
I'm just kind of amazed by this whole thing because I mean, you know
how people you know, anyone who works in animal rescue, what is your
dream? Oh, to have a shelter? You know, you come across
a beef arm, Well what is your dream, oh, to change us
into a sanctuary, and you guys did it, which is pretty incredible.
Yeah, you know it, I know, but I know you're kind of
modest about it, but it's pretty incredible because it's kind of like every animal
rescue, animal welfare person's dream to be able to do what you've done.
So, I mean, I'm just I kind of flabbergasted at how the whole
like the whole process. Did it take years to do? Was it?
Was? It a lot of red tape? So the whole I guess,
like the very beginning of the farm. The farm, the fire that happened
was on March ninth, twenty twenty one, and he was unfortunately airlifted from
the property with severe of severe burns and he was out in Philadelphia in Jefferson's
burn unit for a while. And then once things started to decline even more,
I kind of knew that, like's if he's going to come back to
the property, it's not going to be in the full capacity that he is
going to be able to even manage feeding them, let alone all the other
care that goes into taking care of livestock. So my partner and I had
a conversation with my parents and just said, basically, you know, I
know, you guys don't want a thing to happen to the cows. We
don't want to see anything happen. You know, none of us can even
save them, sending them to auction or trying to rehome them. You know,
it's very it's so difficult. Nobody has cows as pets essentially. So
as soon as you know, my parents kind of they agreed that, like,
you know, this is the best solution, Like, let's try it
out. We said, you know, if we can at least break even
within the first year, we'll continue to go and we'll just continue to grow
and you know, recover more of the property to try to make some more
room for some more animals in the long term. So within the first month
or so of just really realizing that like he probably wasn't going to come back
in the good capacity, if he was going to come back at all,
we did apply for a five one C three and we got that in June
I think it's actually June twenty seven, twenty eight of twenty twenty one,
so we just made two years. There's like an act. Wow, that's
so cool. Yeah, congrats. Yeah, thank ye. Yeah, it's
so crazy, I'm sure, just doesn't even feel real, right, So
we're you know, I'm lucky in the aspect that I do a little bit
of a fun raising background. So we made a monthly sponsorship program where people
can sponsor any of the animals in our care and read about them on our
website, will send out like quarterly gifts, and we'll do quarterly visitor days,
little luncheons and stuff at the farm. Also try to have that more
like personal touch for the people that do donate to us. Sure, and
we were able to just about break even and you know, rescue a couple
more animals here and there. So we're doing it. You are like said,
it doesn't feel real, fat, I'm sure making it work, and
it's yeah, I mean it's it's two years, which is INCREDI I mean,
it's really incredible and you're probably too close to it to realize how incredible
it is, but it really is, because it's true. It's like everybody's
dream to do what you're doing. And the fact that you save these animals
and you're running this farm and it's a sanctuary and and you you get donations.
I know that's how you survive. And I'm going to give out your
your site a million times so my listeners can help. But I just think
it's really incredible, you know, I really, you know, you really
deserve a huge, ginormous pat on the back for doing it because it's so
great. I just think it's so cool. Like I have to come visit
you now. Yeah, You're for sure welcome whenever you know, let me
know you're You're always welcome to come by. Well, thank you. Looking
forward obviously to keep it going. Um, do you have not a goal
but a dream of what the like I know you have goats with the cows.
Do you have a dream of having more animals or or is it still
too new to think that far ahead? Absolutely? I mean I I'm very
realistic and very I to make a quick decision when I need to, um,
you know, and I try to be realistic about our our means and
what we can do there. Um. But absolutely I would love to rescue
more. Um. You know, I have a lot of hopes and dreams
of building a better Barnum. We actually just had a massive tree fall and
take out our hay shed on Monday. While again, like things we would
never expect. Sure, So, you know, to build a better area
for hay storage, we want to build another area as well. UM,
just like a little pavilion where we can have our monthly yoga classes under a
shaded area. Right now, we do it in like a smaller little pasture.
Um, and then after yoga, people can go out and visit the
cows and the goats and everything like that. Um. I love chickens.
I've had chickens for the playoff past like six years at my house where we
still reside, So I'd love to bring them over there. And there's just
so many other animals that need rescuing. Um. Pigs are another one that
are huge, and there's just so hard to find homes for so I would
absolutely love to in the next Like you know, my five year plan is
to definitely exp and further than just the cows and goats, right right,
No, that's awesome. Well, I just think that you're awesome. I
think this whole farm sanctuary thing is amazing. And of course the name is
great Utter Chaos. It just was that the name was that was That wasn't
the name when it was a beef cattle farm? Right? No, No,
um, he didn't really have a name for it. Um. He
sold both beef here and there, and then with the pandemic and everything that
hit, really he stopped. Um. And then with everything else like regular
illness and then the um yeah. Yeah. So we when we were thinking
about, you know, applying for a five on three and like getting a
name for the farm, we threw around so many things. Um, we
really like the monsters, so we wanted to do maybe a spin on the
monsters. And then we're like, oh, you know, I love the
Golden Girls and like, yeah about like shady pines, like a nice retirement
community theme. Um. And then a friend of ours was like, no,
you should do like a for chaos because this place is insane, because
it's just everything that the snowballs and happens over the last the first year,
let alone the last two. It's so clever. Utter Chaos. It's a
perfect name. It's so perfect now it really is so okay. So for
my listeners, I want them to go and help you utter chaos dot org.
They can learn all about the sanctuary. They can also make donations,
they can volunteer, they can see events because you have fundraising events as well.
Listed yep. Yeah, absolutely. We have our Blueberry Festival coming up
on July fifteenth at our friends Clement Farm at their blueberry Farm in Pemberton,
New Jersey. Last year with our first year doing it, and it's all
take your own blueberries across their televiaker blueberry field. We had about thirty vendors
last year and some other raffles, prizes and stuff like that, and this
year we have sixty five vendors and a bunch of food trucks and it's just
so much a larger event. Last year we had about five hundred people come,
so we're in fitcipeding. I look sort of like seven or eight hundred
this year, so which would be We're excited. That's our big fundraiser of
the year. Yeah. Yeah, it's big, and it's something I think.
It's it's cheap. It's like fifteen bucks to get in. I mean,
it's it's cheap. And I saw that you could. I mean that's
where I first learned about you from that press release. And you can get
up to like four pounds of blueberries and see all these vendors and help you
out. So it's all like win win, good good, and that's July
fifteenth, correct, yes, yes, yeah, July fifteens from ten to
three yep. Excellent. Well Danielle, thank you so much, Utter chaos
dot org. For those who are listening, and I know people who listen
to this podcast, I know that they are totally into animal rescue, animal
welfare because why why they listen? So let's help out Danielle so she can
continue doing this amazing job of saving these cows and goats and chickens and pigs
down the road and everything else. Utter chaos dot Org. Danielle, thank
you, and more power to you. And I hope this last forever for
you because I think it's so cool. I really thank you, thank you.
Yeah, you'll have to come visit one day. I will. I
promise I'll come visit. Never been a bad operator and just want to see
you later. Moericator