The animal residents at Farm Sanctuary’s shelters depend on adoptive “parents” to provide them with healthy food, a safe habitat, individualized attention and veterinary care. Each unique sponsorship package includes a personalized adoption certificate and beautiful color photo that make the perfect Mother’s Day gift.

“At our sanctuaries, we witness first-hand the strong maternal bonds formed between mother farm animals and their offspring,” said Farm Sanctuary’s National Shelter Director Susie Coston. “Unfortunately, on factory farms most farm animals are separated shortly after birth and never get to experience a life-long bond with their mothers. When farm animals are separated from their loved ones, they experience the same anxiety and depression that people do. I can’t think of a better way to honor the special mother in your life than by providing for the care of an orphaned animal or a courageous mother who fought to care for her child, even when her own well-being was neglected.”

Animals available for “adoption” include Blossom, a pig who was just a baby when she was separated from her mom and found wandering all alone; Debra, a goat who faced an uncertain future until she was rescued along with her two kids; Cupid, a calf who was torn from his mother minutes after birth and loaded onto a truck bound for slaughter; Katrine, a sheep who was severely neglected and arrived at Farm Sanctuary just in time to welcome her new baby into the world; Goodwin, a baby goat who was lost in New York City until rescuers brought him to safety; and June, a mother hen who, along with her chicks, was destined to suffer at the hands of cock fighters before they were saved and brought to sanctuary.

Those interested in sponsoring an animal for Mother’s Day may call 607-583-2225 ext. 225 or visit Farm Sanctuary online to view the orphaned animals and courageous mothers available for sponsorship including Blossom, Debra, Cupid, Katrine, Goodwin and June.

The public is invited to visit with these mothers and babies – and hundreds more cows, pigs, sheep, goats and chickens who were rescued from abuse and neglect – now through the end of October at Farm Sanctuary’s shelters in Watkins Glen, New York and Orland, California. For tour information, please visit farmsanctuary.org.

For more heartwarming stories about the close bond between mother farm animals and their children, please read our Sanctuary Tails blog entry for Mother’s Day: http://farmsanctuary.typepad.com/sanctuary_tails/2010/04/mother-love.html

The campaign includes a cow-print ribbon pin which can be purchased by donation from the campaign website (www.cowribbon.com) as well as Mother’s Day cards, downloadable graphics, and fliers. The campaign website also has links to videos and stories about real stories of cows and calves rescued from the heartless dairy industry.

Cows must give birth every year in order to produce milk. Farmers artificially inseminate them and then forcibly take the babies away as soon as they are born. Dairy cows are known to bellow for days after losing their calves while hooked up to a milking machine. Female calves are raised to become dairy cows, while the males are sold to become veal or are simply discarded. In the dairy industry, male calves are worth almost nothing. This is an unavoidable cruelty on even in the smallest organic farms.

“Every mother I know would give anything for her children, but we don’t think twice about tearing newborn calves away from their mothers and slaughtering them on the very day they are born so that we can eat a cup of yogurt,” says Glenn Gaetz, a Director of Liberation BC. “Mother’s Day is the time when we honour motherhood. Wearing your cow ribbon is a great way to say that all mothers deserve to know their babies.”

From the campaign website:

“Dairy cows are symbolic representatives of all of the animal mothers whose lives and reproductive systems are manipulated by humans. The cow ribbon is a symbol of your concern for these suffering and abused mothers. Please take a stand and speak out for them.”

More information about the campaign can be found on the campaign website: www.cowribbon.com.

How many times have you heard that before? “I’d go vegan except I just love cheese too much.” The answer is simple: get that far. If someone says they can’t give up cheese, tell them to forget about the cheese, work on everything else. They can probably stop eating pigs, cows, chickens, and fish. So get that far. Become a lacto-vegetarian.

Then later, bring up the cheese again. Most people change gradually, not quickly. So if they’re not ready to go 100% vegan overnight, help them ease into veganism slowly. Once they’ve gotten to the stage where they’re almost vegan, they just need to stop eating cheese, you can give them suggestions.

Here are my suggestions for overcoming cheese:

1. Read The China Study. The health argument against dairy products is strong. It helped convince me to ditch dairy for good.
2. Remind yourself that cheese is very similar to butter – it’s mostly fat and if consumed, should be consumed in very small amounts. That can help you wean yourself off.
3. You can order vegan “cheese” products online and have them shipped if you don’t have a store that sells vegan “cheeses.” For blue cheese and gouda, I’d suggest the brand Shreese. For mozzarella I suggest the brand Teese. For feta I recommend the brand Sunergia.
4. Give it up cold turkey. It’s a bad habit like smoking.
5. Don’t be too hard on yourself at first. If you slip up, it’s fine, just get back on the wagon.
6. I’ve heard the book, “Breaking the Food Seduction” by Dr. Neal D. Barnard is good for this purpose. He talks about addictive foods: sugar, chocolate, and… cheese! Many vegans tell me it helped them stop eating cheese.

And of course, there’s the humane discussion. Mary says, “Sending her to HumaneMyth won’t necessarily help, but I suppose it can’t hurt.” Likewise, HumaneFacts could be persuasive. Or videos like these ones:

What are your thoughts? How did you give up cheese? What would you say to someone who says, “I’d go vegan except I just love cheese too much.”

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*Read a review of some vegan cheeses here.
**Photo credit: quarrygirl.com