We tried goat cuddling — here’s how it went…

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We recently did an article about goat yoga, which got us curious about places near us to try it out.

We found Hux Family Farm in Durham, North Carolina, which is about two hours away. They offer both goat yoga and goat meditation, but, while we wanted to try both, we figured, since we would have the grand baby with us, it would be better to do a farm tour, which they also offer.

The goat tours first are on the first and third Sunday of each month from March to November from 1-2:30pm (you can register here), and come complete with goat cuddling time.

After visiting with the farm’s horses and ducks, we entered a tent-covered area with towels — and goats.

three goats

…lots of goats!

lots of goats

Some goats were young and small. The biggest were not super-big—about the size of average-sized dogs.

There were about a dozen people on the tour and the goats actually did a great job of dispersing, going up to everyone and, well, cuddling.

boy petting goat

people cuddling goats

people and goats
There were also some very large sheep (one shown near back of tent).

It’s an amazing feeling when a goat slips up to you and snuggles next to your leg like you’re best friends, which this one did with me.

goat next to leg

 

I probably should have left my pocketbook in the car, though, because the goats seemed convinced there was something good in it for them.

goats chewing pocketbook
Sorry goats! No treats.

Without us having to do anything, such as calling them or offering any food (which we didn’t do), the goats pretty much automatically came to us, as well as everyone else. Some moved around the tent, but others found people to cuddle with and stayed with them.

As you can see, we were quite popular with the goats. I couldn’t stop petting the girl you see next to me in the photo. She was extremely sweet!

 

writer and grandbabywith goats

 

And we learned goats like to cuddle with each other too (this is a mom and baby).

two goats cuddling each other

 

 

The goats are trained to interact with visitors through lots of positive reinforcement, according to the farm owners. But we like to think they also really liked us.

toddler looking at goats

cute gold and black goat

And then, after about a half hour or so, although we really didn’t want to leave these cuddly cuties, it was time to go.

petting goat
One last neck scritch before we go.

On our way off the farm, we bought some goat milk, which, luckily for us, they also sell frozen (this was frozen when we left for home and just about thawed out and ready to drink when we got home). It tastes pretty much like cows’ milk to us, if you’re wondering.

Goat milk

And we purchased something we’ve been wanting to try for a long time — goat milk soap. At only $4 for a lemon-scented bar, it seemed like a bargain and we can’t wait to try it. Just touching it when it’s dry, you can feel how soft it is; it seems like it will be amazing for our skin.

bar of goat milk soap

It was definitely a fun time and I would love to go back for goat yoga. I will be leaving the pocketbook in the car though! 🙂

goat in pocketbook
Sorry goat, still no treats.

 


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