Every Day Is Valentine's Day For Stanton the Steer with a Heart on His Forehead

Some people wear their hearts on their sleeves, Stanton prefers to wear his heart somewhere even easier to spot.

The rescue steer has a white heart mark right on his forehead. His caretakers at Farm Sanctuary — Stanton’s safe, loving home in New York — see the marking as a physical representation of all the love the young steer has to give, even after a rough start.

Before coming to Farm Sanctuary, Stanton was found hanging on to life in a filthy barn full of neglected bovines. Conditions in the barn were so bad that several calves had already drowned in the muck covering the building’s floor by the time help arrived. Farm Sanctuary said that Stanton was found in the barn resting his head on the body of a dead calf.

The bovines were rescued from these deplorable conditions by Large Animal Protection Society (LAPS), and many of the survivors, including Stanton, came to Farm Sanctuary to live out the rest of their lives in peace surrounded by other animals and devoted caretakers, others were placed in forever homes by Farm Sanctuary’s Farm Animal Adoption Network (FAAN).

Stanton was lucky that he got recused when he did. Stanton is a Holstein, which is a breed of dairy cattle. Like many Holstein calves, Stanton was separated from his mom early in life so his mother’s milk could be sold for profit. Still a young calf, Stanton was sold to the farm where he was found and fell ill because of the barn’s conditions. Without his mother’s milk to provide him with immunity-boosting colostrum, Stanton became even sicker.

By the time the little steer arrived at Farm Sanctuary, he desperately needed a mother’s love. Luckily, one of the cows he was rescued with, Jackie, took a shine to Stanton and began lactating and caring for the calf. Jackie has adopted Stanton as her own and the pair share a deep bond after surviving everything they went through.

With Jackie’s help and that of Farm Sanctuary, Stanton is now a happy, healthy steer with so much love to give. Another of the cows saved from the same barn as Stanton, Nancy, gave birth to a calf named Charlie shortly after arriving at the sanctuary. Stanton was quick to welcome Charlie into the fold and now the quartet of rescue cows enjoy spending their care-free days together with the main herd at Farm Sanctuary.

Stanton has even opened up to humans again after his upsetting ordeal. The steer loves greeting visitors by licking their legs to say hello.

This Valentine’s Day, Farm Sanctuary invites you to celebrate love in a new and meaningful way by sponsoring Stanton or another of their featured farm animal valentines! Your one-time donation will help support your sponsored animal’s happy life at sanctuary and make all of Farm Sanctuary’s rescue, education, and advocacy work possible. As a sponsor, you’ll receive a special digital valentine featuring your new animal friend, which can be printed for yourself or given as a Valentine’s Day gift to a compassionate loved one!