New, from Utah!

[rothgyr]

Hey all!

My wife and I have been prioritizing getting our children outdoors more often, and I want to do backpacking trips, but my children are all too young to carry anything other than food and maybe water. I think doing camping, hiking, and other outdoor trips with goats sounds amazing, and I'd love to teach my children to care for an animal outside, etc.

Ideally, I'd live on more land and be able to raise goats on my property, but my property is too small. Any tips on finding rental pasture land that I can raise a few goats on? If there's anyone in the SLC area that has pack goats, I'd love to get in contact and get some mentorship as well.

Thanks in advance!

[Nanno]

Hello and welcome!!

I've known a couple of people who leased land for their goats, but of course it's not ideal. The main thing is to make sure someone is always around to keep an eye on them. They need a strong, secure fence that goats can't escape or destroy and that predators can't penetrate. Predators are your #1 concern with goats, but they can also fall victim to entanglement, eating trash that blows into their enclosure, eating toxic garden cuttings that people feed them over the fence, etc. You need to be sure that someone has their eye on the pasture for any of these problems. Unfortunately goats aren't like cattle or horses that can be turned out and largely left unattended as long as they have food and water. They're more vulnerable because of their small size, their endless curiosity, and their explorative appetites. Even with those things in mind, some people have found safe places to board their goats. Some people love having goats around as long as someone else is taking care of them and maintaining the fences!

The North American Packgoat Association (www.napga.org) shows quite a few members in the SLC area. If you join NAPgA you have access to their contact information through the members-only section of the website. It only costs $20/year to join.

Best of luck to you!

[Charlie Horse]

Hey there, from Central UT here. I used to live in the south end of Salt Lake County. There used to be lots of land down there in the Bluffdale/Herriman area but every minute someone builds another housing project or McMansion on a former alfalfa field. You might drive around down that way and see if someone has some goats and would be willing to rent you some space in their herd. I rented a vacant lot across the street from my apartment and set up some fencing when I didn't have land of my own for a while. Generally people are happy to have the weeds kept down in that kind of situation.