Maybelle was born in 2005 and lived at a large-scale cow breeding farm in Pennsylvania. When she was three years old, she went to live at a historic site in New York where people dress in period costumes showing what 18th century colonial life was like. While living there Maybelle was impregnated (so that she would lactate) and was put on display to the public for their milking demonstration exhibit. She gave birth to four calves. While one calf was born premature and didn’t survive, the other three calves were taken from Maybelle and she was not allowed to raise them. This practice is standard in the dairy industry. Two calves were sold to farmers, and in April, 2011, a third was born and taken to a petting zoo in Connecticut. After four years, the site’s staff decided to terminate the milking exhibit and reached out to us in an effort to find Maybelle a home.

Woodstock Sanctuary prepared to welcome Maybelle and we were especially excited for her to meet one of the other rescued cows, Kayli. When Maybelle arrived on a sunny January morning, she and Kayli started pushing their heads together hard — this is a way cows play but also to show dominance. It turns out they were an equal match, and soon the pair was running around the pasture, munching contentedly on hay and accepting plenty of love from human friends. Kayli and Maybelle have become best friends and took on co-parenting roles when we rescued Colin and Woody in 2018. Maybelle can always be seen near her closest cow friends, grooming each other, basking in the sun, and roaming their pasture. Her best friend Kayli unfortunately passed away in 2021, but Maybelle now spends her days with Mikey and Jo.