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