Farm play dates: Getting your goat fix
BLACKSBURG — There is nothing cuter than a baby goat — except a whole herd of kid goats.
A herd of goats is a "trip" —the word for a gaggle of goats — and, yes, they are a trip, zany and fun.
Baby goats nuzzle you and jump into your lap. Sit down and they'll climb you and kiss you, sort of. They cuddle even better than teddy bears. They are no respecters of social distance, and that is so nice in these touchless days since coronavirus became a household word.
On a recent Saturday, Julia, Anneliese and Alexandra Hull discovered the joys of communing with goat kids at PrimRose Hill goat farm in Blacksburg. A play date with Nigerian dwarf goats at the Bowman family's 13-acre farm offers a safe escape from being isolated at home. Families can reserve a session to meet, play with and snuggle baby goats the size of housecats.
Of course visitors must wipe down with hand sanitizer first. And, yes, they observe social distance with their human tour guide, who wears a mask. Getting up close and personal with the goats, however, is encouraged.
"Our goats enjoy socializing," said Jennifer Bowman, who has been raising registered show goats and milk goats for five years.
Bowman says the Nigerian dwarf goats are naturally friendly, and socialization with new people helps prepare them for future goat shows. The goats will frolic around visitors, but do not like to be chased. For prey animals, being pursued is terrifying. However, they love to be petted. Even 18-month-old Caiden Culhane could enjoy patting and feeding kibble to the kids without fear of being toppled by the gentle animals.
"Those goats were well tempered and fun," said his father, Andrew Culhane.
"You don't have to try very hard to get their attention," Bowman said. "Goats usually choose you. Sit on the ground and they'll come up and nuzzle."
"The goats were so friendly," said Sara Beth Ronan of Christiansburg, who recently took her three children to the farm. "My 15-year-old had four babies climbing on her all at once. It was great, very relaxing and fun."
Bowman's daughter, Mirra, 13, who often acts as hostess of the goat play dates, showed the Hull sisters how to bottle feed baby kids outside a barn called "Muddy Paws Motel." Nigerian dwarf goats can give birth to three, four or even five kids at a time and don't have milk enough for everybody. Mirra's own prize-winning doe, Lemonheads, recently delivered quads, so two had to be bottle fed. Occasionally goat kids are rejected by their mothers or don't pick up the knack of nursing.
"We have seven bottle babies now, two in our house," said Jennifer Bowman. "One was just 2 pounds at birth, and the mother wasn't nursing. A baby can become hypothermic and go downhill very quickly if it's not feeding. So we keep it in a playpen in the house."
Newborn kids have to be fed four to five times a day until their stomachs grow, Bowman says. The family — Jennifer, her husband Mike, and their two teens — take turns sitting at the table or watching TV with bottle-feeding goats in their laps.
Both Mirra and her brother have purchased show goats with their own money; they both get up early daily for goat chores and are proficient at giving inoculations. Mirra has even mastered the delicate art of milking dwarf goats. The teens show their goats at regional competitions and look forward to selling the pedigreed offspring for $500 to $3,500 each.
But raising about four dozen goats seems like much more than a business at PrimRose Hill – it's also a labor of love. For the past two years, a kid has suffered brain damage during the birth process, Jennifer Bowman says. Instead of euthanizing it, the Bowmans bring the kid inside, bottle-feed it, and give it the best possible care to thrive. Their two "special needs" kids now spend time outside, one living in a special paddock with a companion goat and the other tottering around the pasture learning how to be a goat. Gentle Warren, whose brain injury causes him to spin in circles, rates a stop on every farm tour, along with new baby kids in the Bowman's basement and the frisky pasture goats.
The buck goats are not usually on the tour, Mike Bowman said. "They can be obnoxious," he said. "They stink. They pee on themselves, on their own beards."
Bucks are stinkier during rutting season, when they seem to use urine as cologne. But once they mature, they never smell good. This is just one of the many goat facts the Bowmans share during a play date tour.
They are quick to debunk the myth that goats will eat anything. No tin cans, no newspapers, and preferably not much grass for these critters.
"Goats are incredibly picky eaters," Jennifer Bowman said. "Sure, they will eat poison ivy, but what they don't do is graze a pasture. They just aren't grazers; they're bred to browse from trees and brush at a certain height. They need a high protein diet. Milk goats could starve in a grass pasture."
PrimRose Hill goats consume a high-quality orchard grass/alfalfa hay blend, sunflower seeds, minerals, a high protein mix and baking soda. The last aids digestion in the first compartment of the goats' four-part stomachs.
"Our goats are so picky that they waste a lot of hay. They leave the stems, and we have to give that to the horses," said Jennifer Bowman.
The reward for their selective diet is exceptionally protein-rich, high fat milk. By law, farmers are not allowed to sell unpasteurized milk, so the Bowmans have an abundance of goat milk, yogurt, ice cream and cheese for themselves. Mike Bowman makes soft cheeses, such as mozzarella and chevre, and is experimenting with hard cheeses.
With seven bottle-feeding baby goats, a significant portion of the Bowman's milk harvest goes back to the goats themselves. Bottle-feeding is a favorite activity for guests during goat play dates.
Goat play dates cost $20 per family (due to quarantine concerns, they limit visitors to one family at a time). The Bowmans ask visitors to bring their own hand sanitizer for use before and after meeting the goats. To make an appointment, contact the farm through their website, https://rosehillfarms.net.
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