Lismore shelter a rip-snorter for farmyard outcasts

Sugarshine Farm, a registered charity, was founded by Kelly Nelder, who fostered dogs and cats from domestic violence situations at Broken Hill because women’s refuges wouldn’t allow pets.

Then one day she was contacted by some men at the local tip who a heard a tiny noise coming from a hessian bag. Tied up inside was a baby goat, clinging to life.

Christine Hahn, the farm’s treasurer, said Kelly at first wasn’t interested in taking a goat, but her compassion for animals got the better of her and she took the kid home.

“The goat was only a day old and Kelly named her Sunshine,” Christine said.

“Shortly after, she was contacted about a piglet whose family had been raised in a backyard in preparation for slaughter.

“It was now alone and not very well cared for, so Kelly took her on as well and named her Sugars. These first two rescues are the reason the farm is called Sugarshine.”

As Kelly took on more farm animals, she realised her living arrangements didn’t suit the situation, so she packed herself and the animals up and moved to an acreage near Lismore.

More and more animals came into her care – pigs mostly, as people mistakenly think they are a kind of specially bred mini-pig, and then when they get too big they can no longer handle them.

Sheep, roosters, turkeys, ducks and bobby calves also joined the family.

Sugars turned out to be a real character – and a clever one at that. “One day she managed to break into into the fridge and finish off our supply of soya ice-cream,” Christine said.

At present Sugarshine has seven calves in its care; most will be adopted out once they are down to one bottle feed a day.

Christine said feeding, housing, and providing vet care to so many animals is expensive, and the farm relies solely on donations and sponsorships.

“Because this is largely a drip-feed process – a bit comes in and it is straight away spent on the essentials (food and bedding straw) – big jobs such as fixing fences and building new enclosures never seem to get done,” she said. “As sad as it is, the farm needs an injection of some serious money.”