CockadoodleMoo Farm Animal Sanctuary

CockadoodleMoo Farm Animal Sanctuary We are a small, all-volunteer 501(c)3 operation just north of Reno, Nevada that provides a lifetime home for abused and rescued farm animals.

We care for about 50 animals at any given time. Paypal link is for donations — 100% goes to food and care.

Tolstoy and Willow enjoying this beautiful fall day!
10/12/2026

Tolstoy and Willow enjoying this beautiful fall day!

We're expecting a storm to roll in tonight, the overnight temps will plummet into the 30's. So Rocky and Woody have been...
10/10/2026

We're expecting a storm to roll in tonight, the overnight temps will plummet into the 30's. So Rocky and Woody have been locked out of their dens and will be moved inside this evening. It looks like Woody is ready.

QUESTION #11 on how to start a farm animal sanctuary: What do you do with baby animals and/or how do you keep babies fr...
10/04/2026

QUESTION #11 on how to start a farm animal sanctuary: What do you do with baby animals and/or how do you keep babies from happening?

Baby animals are adorable. They are great for social media content. Families like to take their kids to come see them.

But no, don't be tempted. Your goal is to save animals who need homes. There are more desperately in need of homes than you could ever accommodate so don’t allow the animals in your care to make babies. It’s a matter of remembering your mission.

So what do we do? Before accepting any male mammals, we require them to be altered or we require the people giving up the animal to pay upfront for a vet to do it.

All the male goats, pigs and the one male donkey — plus the male rabbits, cats and dogs — who have come to live here have been neutered. It’s an iron-clad rule for us.

We've never had anyone NOT be willing to pay for neutering if needed. But if a situation ever happened where the people truly couldn't afford to have it done, put out a fundraising request. Your supporters — yay, supporters! — will surely rise to the occasion.

The photo below of Moondog the pig being bottlefed is because he came just after he was born when his pig-family’s shed burned down and their humans couldn’t keep them. He and his two older brothers were neutered before arriving, paid for by the people seeking a home where the pigs could all stay together. (The people hadn’t planned on neutering any of them until the fire because they were being raised for meat.)

Of course, nature finds a way and accidents happen. We had a hen named Ginger (in 2nd photo) staying in our master bathroom for health reasons and so we didn’t see any harm in letting her sit on two eggs because she was not in contact with any roosters. Or so we thought. Both eggs hatched, and both were roosters. We pick up all eggs now once a week no matter what.

Timmy being curious and hanging out in the art shed while I make stained glass.
10/04/2026

Timmy being curious and hanging out in the art shed while I make stained glass.

Mason at over ten years of age isn't a fan of the heat and has been skipping meals opting to nap in his cool house. Fina...
09/30/2026

Mason at over ten years of age isn't a fan of the heat and has been skipping meals opting to nap in his cool house. Finally he's back to eating breakfast and sun napping.

QUESTION #10 on how to start a farm animal sanctuary: What do you do with all the p**p?It's definitely something you'll...
09/26/2026

QUESTION #10 on how to start a farm animal sanctuary: What do you do with all the p**p?

It's definitely something you'll want to think about, and what works for you will vary depending upon the animals you want to rescue. So I'll explain what we do and then give two other options.

WHAT WE DO - EXTRA TRASH PICKUP: WM (Waste Management), at least where we are, lets you fill three green trash bins a week per account. We needed nine to handle all the p**p we use, plus the trash that comes from taking donated food, a lot of which must be thrown out because it's moldy or not appropriate for the animals here. We also use the bins for landscape debris when clearing fire danger around pens (sagebrush, weeds, etc.) Every week, we fill all nine bins.

The WM accounts give us 12 free dump runs each year. We tend not to use them all, but it helps, as when earlier this month, we filled a truck bed with moonflowers pickaxed from a donkey pasture. You could do a p**p dump run once a month...

OTHER OPTION 1 - TRACTOR: A lot of places will bury/compost the p**p on their own properties using a small tractor with a front loader and/or a rear backhoe. If your sanctuary becomes big enough, this is what you'll want to do.

We've thought about getting a tractor, but ultimately decided it wasn't worth the hassle with maintenance, storage, getting a trailer to transport it if the tractor needs servicing we can't do, etc. I know people swear by tractors and there are many many things we could use it for, but ultimately, we can get by without it so it wasn't worth the expense for us.

Our property is steep, hilly and rocky so we're also limited in where a tractor would work. A tractor would work much better if your land is flat.

OTHER OPTION 2 - COMPOST: You can sell or compost the manure yourself. There's A LOT of p**p, though, so this seems unrealistic and not worth managing when you'll already be extremely busy just caring for the animals without also caring for their p**p.

Photo caption: A neighbor's cow came over to hoover up the hay spilled outside our goat pen. He stands next to a WM trash bin.

When you pour way too much paint to cover the house repair and end up painting the porch railings to use it up. Ricky sm...
09/20/2026

When you pour way too much paint to cover the house repair and end up painting the porch railings to use it up. Ricky smelling the fresh paint while Fred and Spike look on.

It took a week or so, but Jolene is now fully on board with using a comforter for a bed. She lost all of her fur during...
09/20/2026

It took a week or so, but Jolene is now fully on board with using a comforter for a bed. She lost all of her fur during the summer so I foresee a coat in her future.

Very symbolic image. Spike the goat believes he's superior to Bolt the goat.
09/06/2026

Very symbolic image. Spike the goat believes he's superior to Bolt the goat.

New door for the big chicken coop
09/03/2026

New door for the big chicken coop

Address

Quaking Aspen Road
Reno, NV
89510

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