Sweety and Tricia, two blind cows once destined for the slaughterhouse, are living testaments to power of friendship -- both between bovines, and people whose mission it is to give them a better life.

For eight long years of her life, Sweety was housed on an industrial dairy farm in Canada. When she was old enough, she was forced to give birth to countless offspring that she would never have the chance to bond with. As health issues began to plague her after so many years of production, like blindness and an infection on her hoof, the dairy farm deemed her more valuable as beef and slated her to be slaughtered.

An employee of the farm shared Sweety's plight to a friend who rescues horses, and they were able to convince the dairy to spare the blind cow's life.

When the Farm Sanctuary, 350 miles away in New York, heard that Sweety needed a new home, they offered to take her in. And soon volunteers were loading the cow into a trailer and carrying her on the long journey - to the start of a new life, and a new friendship.

In 2008, the Farm Sanctuary rescued another blind cow, Tricia, who was also destined for the slaughterhouse. Because of her disability, Tricia had to be kept separated from other animals on the sanctuary along with another cow, named Linda, who had a hip injury. Tricia and Linda were inseparable friends, though sadly Linda died last year, leaving Tricia without a companion.

"It was exciting to think that by giving Sweety a new life, we might also give Tricia another chance to enjoy her own," says the sanctuary's director Susie Coston.