The expanding urban farm

Chickens, bees — and now goats

By Culinate staff

October 18, 2011

Camas Davis, a DIY meat activist, recently wrote an article about urban backyard fauna. Chickens? Totally established. Bees? Getting more popular, for sure. And goats? Definitely the next trendy backyard animal, although they’re exponentially harder to care for than a flock of small birds or a hive of insects:

“When you go from chickens and bees to goats, you are really taking a jump from backyard gardening to farming in the city. You’re really committed to being on the land then,” Justin says. . . . Plus, in the Tirets’ experience, goats, for whatever reason, tend to alarm neighbors more than chickens or bees.

Nevertheless, dedicated backyard farmers have found goats to be rewarding:

For the Tirets, the chickens and bees were easy. They tried ducks for eggs and raised rabbits for their fur (Tracey was into needle felting at the time), but a raccoon killed one duck, the other flew south and the rabbits proved to be too much work with two young children. It’s the goats, which they’ve raised for three years now, that changed the rhythm of their lives in a way they could ultimately appreciate.

For some skeptical municipalities, such as San Diego, chickens are one thing, bees yet another, and goats downright daunting. But if goat — both the meat and the dairy — are the next hot thing, maybe we’ll start hearing more bleating around town.