VALLEY CENTER -- At the Purple Cow & Friends rescue farm, the pigs don't have to worry about becoming bacon, the cows won't end up cooked medium rare, and animals that have been abused or abandoned can live out the rest of their days in peace.

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But the sanctuary for farm animals could be facing its own untimely demise if owner Tiffany St. Ives can't scrape together enough donations to cover the $100,000 annual cost of running the 10-acre ranch.

For most of the nonprofit ranch's 15 years, a New York socialite who wanted to remain anonymous has been Purple Cow's principal benefactor, St. Ives said. However, after the sponsor's death this summer, a legal battle over her estate has caused funds for the farm to dry up.

"The bottom has just dropped out for us," St. Ives said this week. "I'm really terrified. I don't know how long the funds we have will hold out. If we don't survive, these animals will lose their lives."

At the ranch in rural Valley Center, St. Ives and two farm hands have a full-time job caring for dozens of goats, chickens, geese, cows, pigs and other animals. Some animals are in large pens, while others wander the property at their leisure.

Most seem to know St. Ives on sight, and this week as she approached the farm's two horses, Clover and Prince, the animals excitedly neighed, bobbed their heads and trotted over to her. Clover, St. Ives said, had been used and mistreated by a charro rider, so she bought the horse.

Some of the other animals also narrowly escaped death because of St. Ives' intervention, such as several cows that were destined as young calves to become veal. Other animals are sent to the farm from all over Southern California by veterinarians and animal shelters, often as the result of owners who didn't plan ahead and discovered they didn't have the space, money or inclination to care for their new pets, St. Ives said.

"Every animal here has a sad story," she said. "We've rejuvenated a lot of animals that were in pretty bad condition."

For most of her life, the thin, blonde woman in her early 50s has cared about animals, she said. She grew up in Los Angeles and was an actress, writer and artist before moving to Valley Center where she would have more space for her animals.

"I just had an affinity for animals," St. Ives said. "When I was 5 years old, I saw some boys throwing a skateboard at a cat, and I got really mad and stopped them."

While there are many shelters for stray cats and dogs, as well as various sanctuaries for injured wildlife, unwanted farm animals have few places to go, St. Ives said. But St. Ives said all animals, even cows and pigs, deserve to live out their lives, which she said is why she's a vegan, eating no foods containing animal byproducts.

"All animals have a right to reverence and respect," St. Ives said.

She also lets people who have the space and desire to adopt animals from Purple Cow, so long as they don't exploit them.

Purple Cow is named after a red steer named Boscoe that used to graze alone in a field between Escondido and Valley Center and that appeared purple under the glistening sun. The sanctuary wasn't able to raise enough money to save the steer from going to a slaughterhouse.

LaBeth Thompson, who handles animal intake at the Helen Woodward Animal Center in Rancho Santa Fe, said that because her organization mostly handles dogs and cats, workers there often refer people with livestock to Purple Cow. A common case she sees is when people buy an animal such as a pot-bellied pig as a pet, but then it grows to several hundred pounds and is too large for the owner to handle, Thompson said.

Without Purple Cow, there are few other sanctuary options in the area for such animals, she said.

"When push comes to shove, they might start being abandoned, or left somewhere in a rural area," Thompson said.

St. Ives said she has been writing grant requests and that donations from local supporters have started to trickle in, but she still has a long way to go to collect all of the money she needs.

To donate to Purple Cow, call (760) 749-4790, or send a check to P.O. Box 301175, Escondido, CA 92030. The organization's Web site is www.sandiegopurplecow.org.

Purple Cow & Friends rescue farm

To donate, call (760) 749-4790, or send a check to P.O. Box 301175, Escondido, CA 92030.

The Web site is www.sandiegopurplecow.org.