Livestock rescue ranch needs a rescue

All Mosta Ranch Montana, a livestock rescue/adoption and education center in Marion, needs a rescue itself so it can continue caring for a menagerie of cast-off critters, according to ranch operator Kate Borton, also known as Granny Kate.

“So far this year, donations have really dropped a lot,” Borton said. “We went way out on a limb and took in more horses, goats and pigs because we had such community support last year.”

As revenue dropped, calls surged from horse owners and others on the economic brink with no place to take their animals as they lost their jobs and homes. Borton, a woman with a huge heart, has a hard time saying no to owners desperate enough to abandon their horses.

“One owner said, ‘I don’t want to turn them loose in the woods but I don’t know what else to do,’” Borton recalled.

The ranch accepted four horses from home foreclosures but she had to say no to many others. For a while, Borton kept records of the requests that she couldn’t accommodate.

“I quit counting at 18 people,” she said. “I can’t keep the numbers any more. It’s too depressing.”

People continue to visit the ranch. Borton said 149 people have come since January, averaging about seven people a week. Some come just to see the animals while others are considering adoptions.

Even with this much visitation and six outreach programs bringing animals to Kalispell, adoptions declined from 40 in 2008 to 33 in 2009.

All Mosta Ranch Montana has had just four adoptions so far in 2010.

One horse went home with a 13-year-old girl experiencing adolescent turmoil.

“She had some difficulty controlling her emotions,” Borton said

 As one facet of its mission, the ranch allows teenagers and other youths to work and play at the ranch as animal therapy. Some stay for the weekend with Granny Kate.

“I talk to everyone as if they are my children or grandchildren,” she said. “Love and compassion come from working with animals.”

The 13-year-old girl’s parents wanted her to settle down and learn some responsibility. They brought their daughter out to the ranch many times during the winter where she learned to ride and made a new best friend.

“She bonded with a 20-year-old mare,” Borton said. “Babe had been here about a year.”

Her parents were so thrilled with the progress their daughter made at the ranch that they agreed to adopt Babe. It was a happy ending for the girl as well as the horse.

Borton remembered when Babe’s owners approached her in desperation. They had just 10 days left before they were to be turned out of their home. Their old friend had no home and just a little moldy hay left to eat when Borton came to the rescue.

Still, it was hard for them to say goodbye.

“They cried when she left,” Borton said.

The adoption of an old horse is cause for celebration at All Mosta Ranch Montana. Quite a few people come to the ranch looking to adopt but most won’t consider an old or untrained animal.

Borton said she has requests from some people with adoptable horses such as Rocky, a 6-year-old papered Appaloosa gelding in need of some training. His owners asked her to give him a home but she can’t take on any more mouths to feed until donations increase.

The ranch now cares for 11 horses, two cows, 17 goats, eight sheep, five llamas, five pigs, 15 geese, three ducks, numerous chickens, five dogs and two dozen feral cats.

Horses include a blind pony named Scooter, an older pony for adoption named Spice and Gray, a sanctuary mustang mascot saved from a herd being shot from helicopters in New Mexico in 2003. Every animal has a unique story, such as the one involving a gelded pot-bellied pig.

Acquired by a handicapped man as a pet, the pig had to find a new home when the man’s landlord changed his mind about allowing him in as a pet.

“He’s about 25 percent of the size of a hog — 140 to 150 pounds,” Borton said.

The large herd of goats came mostly from one family that had to move and couldn’t take them along. Borton said they were starved and in bad shape.

She has a couple of pygmy goats but she cautioned that the cute little guys make up for their size with a big, bad attitude.

“They have a Napoleon complex,” Borton said with a laugh.

So as not to perpetuate breeding, the ranch no longer accepts bottle-fed baby goats, the unwanted product from milking herds. The only advantage was that babies, like three lambs adopted a week ago, appeal to every one but sometimes the cute factor encourages irresponsible ownership.

“A new penny shines,” Borton said. “People have good intentions, then winter sets in and there’s no fresh water.”

Fostering responsible ownership forms another part of the educational mission of All Mosta Ranch Montana. More than anyone, Borton, her husband and son know the work required to keep animals healthy, clean, well-fed and watered. They also know the cost.

The ranch, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, needs to raise $3,300 each month in donations for hay, grain, veterinary and other expenses. Since the beginning of the year, donations have amounted to only $2,610, leaving a budget shortfall of $8,615 to date.

“We put well over half from our own pocket — that’s a no-no for a nonprofit,” Borton said. “We feed the animals before we make the house payment.”

To maintain nonprofit status, she said the ranch must receive 70 percent of its revenue from public donations.

Borton has written numerous grant and foundation applications. All Mosta Ranch Montana has two pending for fencing materials —  from Walmart and the Montana State Fund.

If the money is approved, the ranch has a core of volunteers that can be called in to put up the fencing. Supporters and Montana Conservation Corps volunteers have done other projects such as building a loafing shed last year to give shelter to horses.

In an attempt to increase donations, Borton placed low-cost classified ads asking for help and offering animals up for adoption. The ads brought a large response — calls from more people asking for help rather than offering it.

Interest and monetary support surged after a story in the Inter Lake in December 2008 about the no-frills ranch. She hopes for another miracle now as their financial crisis has grown more acute.

Borton finds her family in a position similar to the many people she has rescued during her 13 years of running a livestock rescue ranch first in Columbia Falls, then in Plains and now in Marion. Due to the recession and little construction, Borton’s husband, a journeyman electrician, has worked only nine months over the last two years and has only a few weeks of unemployment benefits left.

At one point recently, she needed $350 to buy grain and hay but had just $70 in the ranch checking account.

“I don’t really know what to do,” she said. “I’d like to see if there is someone more financially stable who would like to take over care of the animals. I would continue to help.”

To learn more, visit the website at www.Allmostaranch.org or call Borton at 270-7513. People who would like to make tax-deductible donations may send checks to All Mosta Ranch Montana, P.O. Box 937, Marion, MT 59925.

Those without money to donate may help the ranch receive grant money by voting daily for All Mosta Ranch Montana at www.AnimalRescueSite.com.

Borton said she appreciates every donation, no matter how small, calling them “pennies from heaven.” The ranch continues to help others by donating eggs to the food bank and housing an at-risk family in Kalispell in a mobile home donated to the ranch.

Even faced with dire problems, Borton has faith that help will come and she remains committed to the animals who depend on the ranch.

“I’m not giving up and taking the animals to slaughter,” she said. “We’ll keep struggling until we can’t any more.”

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.