Foundations

I would like to start by saying that I am new to the world of goats. If I were asked to take care of a goat, I’d be completely at a loss, but I’m determined to learn about them. When I was ten years old, I started a campaign within my household to get a goat. I wanted a gray female, and I wanted to name her Lucy. I drew picture after picture of goats on the chalkboard in our kitchen and spent hours forcing my parents to sit and listen while I explained exactly how wonderfully I would care for the animal. The reality of goat care may have been missed by my excited young imagination. I envisioned a dog-like goat that would follow me around town; I could picture tethering her outside my friends’ houses, or to lampposts in front of shops. My parents, somewhat unreasonably, responded by saying that a goat would need more than our quarter of an acre backyard to graze on, and that, if she escaped her fencing, she could decimate our neighbor’s prize flower garden in a matter of minutes.

Feeding baby lambs

            My goat wish was only put on hold. When I turned fifteen my parents bought a house in the-middle-of-nowhere, Vermont; suddenly my backyard grew by 99.75 acres: goat paradise! And the campaign began again, I considered purchasing blown up pie charts to emphasize my persuasive points, but my dreams were once again squashed too soon by my parents reality check: in just two short years I’d be leaving for college. They said I could have a goat as long as I was ok with it living in my dorm room while I was at school. While I saw no problem with this, I realized my future roommate and the school janitors could feel differently.

Sheep Walking!

            Last summer my parents bought two lambs. Six months later they slaughtered those two and adopted two more (this time not for meat). These not-so-little girls are extremely wooly, cuddly, and cute. And while I adored them from the start, I also realized that adding a goat to their happy family in the field would be ever so simple. Since then my imagination has run wild. I’ve revised my life plan to include not just one goat, but a herd. I’ve gone from wanting to own a goat cheese bakery, to wanting to have possibly the world’s first goats milk ice cream truck

            The truth of the matter is that I’m still stuck in college for another two years; so all goat plans must wait. However this scheming has brought up some interesting questions for me. As I’ve imagined the different roles goats might play in my future life, I’ve also wondered if goats can financially and environmentally sustain themselves. This question took on new life this January when I moved onto the university’s new farm to take part in SLU’s first Sustainability Semester. Currently I am one of eight college students living on an off-campus farm devoting these four months to learning how to live without negatively impacting our planet.

Sustainability Semester

            Each of us are designing our own semester-long project wherein we explore an area of sustainable living that interests us. Shockingly, I’ve chosen to explore the sustainability of goat farming. I’m going to spend the rest of this semester visiting North Country goat farmers and reading goat books to figure out how a small number of goats can be a sustainable choice for a family. I’ll explore the different ways they can financially help a family as well as reduce their ecological footprint and support themselves financially.

            With all this new knowledge I hope to gain, I can begin to make a plan for my first grand goat adventure, effective immediately upon graduating from college. (if not sooner.)