(bright music) - [Bill] Animals on the farm just off the freeway, west of Ann Arbor.

At Barn Sanctuary, there are residents called persons here, just like the caregivers that see to their needs.

- We do everything that farming is except for the last part, taking the animals to the market.

- [Bill] Dan McKernan and his father, Tom, they started Barn Sanctuary eight years ago.

- Yeah, well, people just aren't exposed to farm animals.

Unless you grew up on a farm, you don't really have the experience of seeing them and that's what we hope to do is let people see that our pigs and cows are more like your experience you have with your dogs and cats.

- You had yours, sorry, that's it.

- [Bill] Caregiver Casey Fry, a popular sight in the pig barn this morning.

- So it's turmeric paste and LubriSyn, which helps with their joints.

- [Bill] Is that all they eat?

- [Tom] No, they get a lot more than that.

- They get a lot more, this is just supplements.

- [Bill] Can you tell if they're happy?

- We can tell if they're upset and we can tell if they're happy because they wanna interact with each other, ourselves.

They get up, they're able to get up and eat.

They're interested in playing around and they can be little stinkers with each other.

- [Bill] Around 140 farm animals and rescue stories come with each of them.

- We rescued June in 2017 and she was rescued as a piglet.

She was found in a kind of a metal trashcan and was left there with a crazy eye infection and was malnourished.

And a local dog rescuer founder and then gave us a call.

(pig grunting) - [Tom] Yeah, yeah.

(pig grunting) - [Bill] Before all this, Dan, a plant-based diet advocate, he was a tech expert in Texas, specializing in fundraising for nonprofits.

Tom, a pharmacist and local township supervisor, their farm had been owned by the family for nearly a century and a half.

- And all of a sudden, I realized that this is a property, is potentially gonna be developed commercially.

I didn't really want us to be the next McDonald's, the next gas station, whatever you find along the exit ramps and stuff along the expressway.

- And out of the blue, my dad gave me a call and asked, "What should we do with this family farm that we've got?"

So I told my dad, "How about starting a farm animal rescue on the family farm?"

And he asked, "How are we gonna pay for the feed?"

And I told him I would take care of that and figure out a way.

- [Bill] Dan barnstormed social media.

His messaging was a hit.

- One bale of hay, it's $5 and we're trying to raise $15,000 in order to get 3,000 bales of hay.

- And so Dan came up with this idea and I said, "Really, people give you money for this?

This is how this works?"

- I just wanted to give y'all an update on the chicken coop fundraiser.

We made our goal.

- And then over time, the sanctuary became my dream, too.

So I am all in on this and this is what I do.

This is my life now.

She likes to have her neck rubbed, yes.

Yes, you do.

- Mabel was rescued from a dairy farm and she was born, her front legs look a little wonky still, but they were completely contracted.

She couldn't use them.

- [Bill] Mabel, also infertile, can't produce milk.

Useless on a dairy farm, but thriving here, thanks in large part to extensive treatments to her legs at Michigan State University.

Uncommon veterinary care paid for by Barn's Sanctuary supporters.

- We are so open to trying everything under the sun that doesn't compromise the quality of life.

So we can give them a great quality of life and extend the quantity of life.

Then feel like we're doing the right things.

Come on, buddy.

Augustus.

Hey, dude.

He can't see me.

Augustus, come on.

Come on, buddy.

- [Bill] Augustus, the friendly rooster.

Not just the caregivers, he gets along well with the hens, too.

- When we talk about the breeds that are raised for meat, unfortunately, they're killed in the industry at six weeks of age.

But we do things very specifically here and we've had one of those hens last six years, which is phenomenal.

- [Bill] Goats named Steve, Martin, and Chevy, the three amigos.

They arrived seven years ago after a harrowing excursion aboard an animal transport that made the news.

- [Reporter] The Pennsylvania SPCA spent most of the day unloading these goats and sheep from this truck onto these vehicles.

The animals had a wild ride.

- [Bill] The animals' owner fled police, bike strips reportedly involved.

- So with all these animals in a trailer and tow, there was a high speed chase.

Unfortunately, he crashed a lot of the animals in the trailer and perished.

- [Bill] The three amigos came through it okay.

The driver and his passenger on the lam, apprehended.

- [Reporter] They face more than 80.

- [Bill] Barn Sanctuary now at capacity.

The countless other less fortunate farm animals, what about sanctuary for them?

- That's just something that we have to accept to just say, "If I can't save them all, what's the point in saving one or five or 10?"

So one step at a time and we're just doing the best that we can.

- But I'd much rather do this because when I'm 95, I don't really want to be talking about, "Did you see that ordinance I helped right?"

Or, "How many flu shots did I give?"

No, I wanna be talking about how we can make the world a better place for our kids and our grandkids by reducing animal cruelty that occurs in factory farms by reducing climate change that agriculture causes, and then also by increasing people's personal health by just eating healthier.