Animal Planet’s ‘Saved by the Barn’ Welcomes Baby Piglets & Neglected Calves (VIDEO)
Former tech worker Dan McKernan and his Michigan-set Barn Sanctuary team have their hands full in this week’s Saved by the Barn episode, as the series moves to a new 9/8c Saturday night timeslot on Animal Planet.
Four calves—rescued by the Michigan Humane Society from a cruelty case—arrive on the farm in need of rehoming. They have ringworm and require bottle feeding twice a day. Even if their care wasn’t so labor-intensive, McKernan admits, they don’t always have the space to take every animal in permanently. “There’s never a shortage in rescuing farm animals,” he explains. “I’m constantly saying no every day, and it’s really hard.”
Luckily, they discover a solution—Iowa Farm Sanctuary has room to house the calves. “The great thing about the farm sanctuary network is that there are farm sanctuaries all throughout the United States and so, we work with each other in trying to find forever homes,” McKernan says.
But—spoiler alert—one particularly adorable calf, Whitney, snatches the heart of the Barn Sanctuary team. “The plan was to have Whitney go to Iowa Farm Sanctuary [with the other calves], but then literally everyone fell in love,” McKernan says. “It wasn’t that hard to convince me to keep her.” In TV Insider’s exclusive clip, watch as Executive Director Kelly and other staffers introducing Whitney to resident calf Joey, also from a similarly rough situation before landing at Barn Sanctuary.
Elisha Trinkle and Kelly Holt walking Whitney, the rescued calf, to her new home.
Also going on in this fun hour: a potbellied pig, just dropped off the night before, causes a cuteness overload when she surprisingly births a litter of piglets earlier than expected “They’re like little nuggets running around,” McKernan exclaims. And if you’re into baby animals (really, who isn’t?), the sanctuary founder teases there are more births to come, adding, “just wait until later in the season.”
And since nothing is ever quiet on this farm, viewers will also see Dan’s twin brother Chris as he is tasked with building a goat playground. “If you want to see a grown man try to swing a hammer or dig a hole, it’ll be very comical,” McKernan says with a laugh.
Check out the exclusive clip featuring Whitney the calf from this week’s episode above.
Saved by the Barn, Saturdays, 9/8c, Animal Planet
