Where Pigs Fly: The landing pad

Linn-area rescue shelter, petting zoo serves as home to 400-plus animals

Where Pigs Fly Farm, located east of Linn, is home to more than 400 barnyard animals and is open to the public. Also on site is Pigs Aloft Museum, the only museum of pig-themed items in America.
Where Pigs Fly Farm, located east of Linn, is home to more than 400 barnyard animals and is open to the public. Also on site is Pigs Aloft Museum, the only museum of pig-themed items in America.

The animals are more like residents than livestock, commingling without fences separating the species. Each one has a personality. There's Sheriff Harley, the black lab/St. Bernard mix who keeps the barnyard peace. Miss Penny is a reclusive, 50-pound teacup pig whose owners gave up when she got too big. On the flip side, Pretty Girl the cockatoo likes attention and telling men how attractive she is. T.J. is the part dachshund, part Australian shepherd nursemaid to orphaned puppies

Where Pigs Fly Farm - a rescue shelter and petting zoo in the rolling knolls east of Linn, Mo. - is home to more than 400 animals people can visit. Pigs of all sizes, dogs, cats, sheep, goats, horses, Scottish highlander cattle, alpacas, mini donkeys, Patagonian mara and Amazon parrots are just some of the species living together on the 62.7 acres.

"I never imagined I'd end up in a place like this," owner and operator Cindy Brenneke said, walking through her hilltop frontyard. A light snow fell as goats, sheep and cattle gathered around. Wherever she went, the flock followed. "Sometimes, I feel like the Pied Piper," she said.

In fact, the name Where Pigs Fly Farm came about because the Taos native used to say pigs would fly before she moved back to the country after working as a graphic designer in New Jersey, New York City and St. Louis. "But, here I am," she said.

If living in a two-story stone farmhouse surrounded by a barnyard zoo doesn't sound fantastical enough, Brenneke also resides in Pigs Aloft Museum, the only museum of pig-themed items in America and the second largest in the world. Like the rescue animals that populate the grounds, Brenneke's home is filled with rescued collections of pig collectibles. Almost everything is pig-shaped or has a swine printed on it, from the bed sheets to the wine bottles. Porcelain snouts poke from every wall, organized into groups such as pig marriages, piggy banks and famous pigs like Miss Piggy.

The museum is a conglomeration of orphaned collectibles. It began when Brenneke was given the 14,500-piece assemblage of the late Ross Honsa. His goal was to break the world record for largest private collection. As more collectors donated to the museum, and its contents swelled to 35,000, Brenneke realized she could fulfill Honsa's dream by becoming the largest pig museum in the world. Now she just has to surpass the German Schweine Museum's more than 50,000 pieces.

The real pigs are out in the barn, where passels huddle around the two 1,000-plus-pound hogs, Babe and Grunt. Brenneke rained affection on them like the cutest piglets. It's a needed service. A lot of the pigs on the farm were given away by owners when they got too big.

Brenneke started the operation about six years ago in Owensville, but her collections of needy animals and pig collectibles quickly outgrew her space. She bought the Linn farm in October 2015, and it's already expanding, again - construction of the Rector Animal Care center is set for this spring. Brenneke said the old dairy barn will be converted into the adoption center, but she wants to keep the existing beams visible to maintain its rustic appearance.

Dr. Diana Krenning-Botts will be the animal care center's in-house veterinarian and could also offer her mobile veterinarian services at the facility. "We needed some type of animal shelter for Osage County," she said. "I took a look at her old dairy barn and decided it would make a great animal shelter. We have started the process of getting the money to get that up and going, and when you have an animal shelter, it would be nice to have some sort of facility to treat the animals, so Cindy wanted to build a clinic there. We haven't worked out all of what's going to happen, but hopefully we will get this up and going."

The center is named for Ronald Rector, the owner of the farm who died in a medical helicopter crash. It will offer low-cost spay and neuter services in a county overpopulated with feral cats. The farm has adopted out more than 100 cats this year and houses many others, such as the one-eyed tabby, Simba. Brenneke said she loves seeing people accidentally fall in love with and take home new pets, but there can be too many to find homes for.

Brenneke estimated $250,000 will be needed to construct the veterinary clinic and convert the dairy barn. She is trying to help raise the money through a massive garage sale, which is open 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturdays in February and March. There is a barn full of donated merchandise that will let visitors share in Brenneke's passion for saving old treasures and in turn help make medical care available to other people's treasured pets. Two floors, each measuring 40-by-70 feet, are filled with new and used clothing, antiques, cooking appliances, books, CDs, movies and more. Duchess, the old, graying great Dane, will be there to help shoppers. Krenning-Botts said Duchess is a wonderful hostess who often escorts her around the farm.