TEA, S.D. (KELO) – Helping farm animals with special needs find their forever home. That’s the mission of Finny Mini Farm and Sanctuary.
What started as chickens and ducks has now evolved into a farm complete with goats, pigs and even a horse.
“I never thought I would own a pig, horses, or even a donkey that’s still wild. And sometimes my husband and I sit down and we’re like, ‘Where did this come from? Like, how did this happen?’ But I think it was meant to be,” Ju said.
Ju says she’s always had a heart for animals that need a little extra love.
“A lot of the animals we get in are born with differences like limb differences, or they’re born unable to see, unable to walk or they got a sickness that caused that,” Ju said. “I also work with children with special needs.”
About 80 acres make up the farm, and as the animals increased, so did the need for help.
“So once we started taking them in, people wanted to come out and see them and it just grew from there to the point where we were kind of forced to organize something,” Ju said.
Volunteer Coordinator, Molli Kleitz came into this role knowing nothing about farming.
“I’ve learned a lot. I can give vaccinations to goats, I can sheer sheep, and I take care of my horse. It’s just been absolutely incredible, just the wealth of knowledge here,” Kleitz said.
Finny Mini Farm and Sanctuary offers volunteer nights for people to come out and lend a hand.
“Their role is helping me with manpower because having six people shovel out the barn takes a lot less time than just me or just me and my husband. So it helps us have the number of animals that we have and it has formed the community like we are really close with our volunteers,” Ju said.
John Hall and his son Theodore are first-time volunteers who decided to do just that.
“I think it’s really cool,” Theodore said.
“I feel that it’s a good use of our time, especially with the summer and the nice weather and the longer days. It’s kind of nice to be away from all the screens and get out here and actually see some of the animals and what it’s like in life outside of Sioux Falls,” John said. “I feel with as big as it’s getting, it’s easy to lose sight of that when there are still so many great resources around and things to learn.”
Addy Bradfield is a long-time volunteer and says she loves showing people her favorite animals. One is Gracie the horse.
“I like her beautiful mane, her tail, her color. Just kind of a blond and a white,” Bradfield said.
Eight-week-old kittens are the newest addition to the farm, as adoption is also available.
“So we do adopt out a lot of our animals. We can adopt out our goats. We normally have a good chunk of babies every year and so that’s really exciting to find them new homes,” Kleitz said.
In the future, Ju says she has big dreams for what this farm can look like.
“Hopefully as we grow and our family grows, I hope to have a new barn that will fit our needs,” Ju said. “To have a place where people can come out for events and do parties out here and do education and teaching kids about animals, maybe farm camp,” Ju said.
The farm also allows people to sponsor their animals. For more information on sponsorship click here.
