Goats in the City: Portland Neighbors Take a Step Towards Self-Sufficiency

I have said before that the lessons of our grandparents could really come in handy now that our gross economic negligence has come back to bite us in our entitled behinds (NOTE: I am making a big generalization for effect here, so don't get upset if you don't feel that you're in any way responsible for the Fine Mess the U.S. finds itself in). It seems that others feel that way, too, that a return to the ways of our much more self-reliant ancestors is long overdue. Thus more and more folks are planting vegetable gardens, learning to sew and knit, and are even keeping livestock. Chicken coops (and even bee hives!) are a familiar sight around Portland, but some people are turning to another animal as well—the goat.

Goats and humans living together is nothing new; they were among the earliest animals to be domesticated—some 10,000 or more years ago. In that time, goats have been kept for milk and meat, their dung used for fuel, and their bones, skin, and fur used for shelter and clothing. Today in the U.S., the number of goats kept for meat is growing, as people from parts of the world where goat is more commonly consumed migrate to this country, but Oregon ranks second in the keeping of dairy goats. And in a city like Portland, it would be safe to assume that the majority of goats being kept are for the purpose of producing milk.

According to the Multnomah County Health Department's Environmental Health section's Vector and Nuisance Control department (whew, that's a mouthful), there are officially 30 registered goat keepers in Portland. But, according to Dave Thomson, code enforcement officer, that may not be an accurate picture of how many people actually keep goats. The city code (though enforced by the county, goats fall under the city's jurisdiction) stipulates that three or less pygmy or dwarf goats are considered pets and therefore do not have to register with the city. Thomson explains that there is no formula for regulating goat keeping; they basically look to see how it will affect the neighbors, and make sure that the conditions will be adequate and humane for the animals.

"I have a soft spot for goats," Thomson admits. "They're very likeable animals." When he inspects a property, he looks for things like cleanliness, if there are systems in place to manage odor and vermin infestation. Ground cover must be considered to deal with erosion issues; a secure fence and a way to deal with manure are also high on the list of priorities. Distance from neighboring homes is also a factor; the most important factor is whether or not the neighbors are on board or not.

"If the neighbors are okay with it, there is definitely more latitude," Thomson says. He is concerned that there are people who keep goats or who are considering keeping goats who may be afraid of the permit process. The reality, according to Thompson, is that the process is fairly simple, and the agency is really there to help support people new to keeping goats. Thomson would prefer to talk to folks about the best ways to keep goats before there are complaints lodged against them.

"There [may be] hundreds of un-permitted goats. If no one complains, no one knows about them," Thomson says. He sees 200–250 animal related complaints. Permits would help filter out the more egregiously bad situations for the neighbors or the goats or both. He feels that if you are going to keep goats, you may as well be proactive, and avoid upsetting neighbors or unintentionally creating a set-up that is detrimental to the health of the animals.

There are plenty of resources available to help wannabe goat farmers get it right. From urban goat keeping classes at Pistils Nursery on Mississippi, to online journals and magazines, to the Northwest Oregon Dairy Goat Association's yearly conference, there is a strong network of support.

 

Starting Small, Dreaming Big

I visited Abita Springs Farm, smack dab in the middle of the Cully neighborhood, where Ed and Nancy Arcament have nine goats. In the four years they've been keeping goats, they've had 17 kids born; unfortunately 14 were male, which won't help much with milk production. With their great pedigree though, all but two of the male kids were sold as bucks for breeding. The two that were not chosen for bucks are now pack goats at Yellowstone National Park—not a bad life for animals native to mountain climes. Their Alpine goats are top milk producers, so they are able to sell milk and still have enough left over to do what they're really passionate about—making cheese.

 

Nancy tells me that their odyssey began 12 years ago when they read a story about a couple in Vermont who started a cheese making operation. They began to make cheese from cow's milk, then got into making goat's milk cheeses. As their dedication to cheese making grew, they began to think about keeping their own goats for the freshest supply of milk. They were pleasantly surprised to find out that it wasn't as difficult to keep goats on their oversized lot as they feared.

"The city was really very easy to deal with," admits Ed. "Dave Thomson was very helpful." The only problem is that Oregon Department of Agriculture laws say that although they are allowed to sell raw goats milk, they aren't allowed to advertise that they do (which made the job of finding them very, very difficult for this reporter), and they cannot sell it commercially to markets. They sell about five gallons of milk a day, and have lots of regular customers. They both agree that they don't sell the milk to make money; they are happy that the sale helps them to pay for the care and feeding of their animals.

 

Taking a tour of the goat barn and yard, it is clear that the Arcaments have a deep affection for all of their goats, explaining to me their different personality quirks, stories about their births, their milk production, or lack thereof (there is a wethered male among them, as well as a four month old male kid who is currently up for adoption). Their set-up is spacious, well-kept and very clean—they manage to combat any discernible barn smell. I ask about their neighbors, and they tell me that the homes adjacent to either side of their property both saw the goats as a perk when they bought their homes. The neighborhood children, as well as kids from the nearby Harvey Scott School, have come to visit and learn more about goats.

 

"We've conducted elder place tours, milking demonstrations, field trips," Ed tells me. "It's a lot of fun."

The Arcaments seem eager to teach others what they know about goats, just as they were mentored themselves as they were starting out. Helen and Frank Reasoner, goat breeders in Molalla for the past 30 years, are two such people. While I visited the Arcaments, the Reasoners were visiting, too, to discuss possible bucks that would be a good match for a doe they wanted to breed. With a complicated-looking graph they discussed udder proportions and other such things you don't normally hear discussed while sitting in someone's living room in the middle of a city.

"The more you learn, the more you realize you don't know," admits Frank with a smile.

"Goat keeping runs in cycles," Helen explains. "The Back to the Earth movement of the 60's and 70's," she says brought animal husbandry and other homesteading practices back into fashion. "And things are going that way again," she concludes.

Both the Arcaments and the Reasoners are members of the Northwest Oregon Dairy Goat Association, and tell me about the education conference they hold every February at Clackamas County College.

"Three to four hundred people attend 40 different classes," Helen says.

"It is good, basic information," adds Nancy, "on cheesemaking, soapmaking, giving shots, hoof trimming. We have veterinarians come and speak. We try to meet the demands of everyone from the expert to the novice."

 

Even if an interested person was unable to attend all or any of the workshops, they also offer a packet with all of the information covered at the conference. Besides this great resource, the Arcaments credit a strong network of friends they've made through the association that continually add to their knowledge. Besides learning about goat husbandry, they've learned quite a bit about cheesemaking as well.

Though the Arcament's cheeses routinely win awards at fairs around the state, they are not allowed to sell them; sellable cheese must be made in a "Grade A" kitchen, as outlined by the Oregon Department of Agriculture. But they hope to one day have such an operation. Nancy still works a job outside of their farm, but Ed retired when they sold off a portion of their lot to be a full-time "stay at home goat dad." They are saving their money to buy a bigger piece of property outside of the city, where they will have the type of kitchen that will allow them to sell their cheeses, and be able to have a larger herd.

 

As a guest in their house, I was allowed to try some of the cheese they make for their own consumption. I tried a cheddar that was tangy and completely devoid of any "goaty" taste, and a Palmero-type cheese, rubbed with sweet smoked Hungarian paprika of which I could have easily eaten more than my fair share. My reaction encouraged them to share a little of the lime flavored goat's milk ice cream that they had made, which very nearly sent me over the top. It was creamy, rich, delicious. Knowing how fresh it all was, and knowing that it came from the combined efforts of these gentle, lovely animals, and these equally lovely people, it was no surprise that it tasted so good.
 

A Goat Collective

I later headed over to the Sabin neighborhood to meet the folks who live in what they refer to as an urban co-op. The six people who live in the rambling craftsman home on NE Going street share all of the responsibilities of their urban farm, and share the care of their three goats with neighbors who are part of their goat co-op.

The goat co-op was born out of meetings, research, as well as the eventual work parties that yielded a pen, milking room, manger, feed storage area and small barn. They began their adventure with two three-year old mini La Manchas, and currently have one kid as well. Each person in the co-op takes a turn milking, feeding, grooming, and exercising (theirs is a smaller set up than the Arcaments; the goats here go on walks through the neighborhood—much to the delight of passersby) of the goats in exchange for a share of the milk produced.

Sharing and cooperating is nothing new to this micro-neighborhood. For more than 15 years, about twenty people have shared meals (twice a week they meet at different homes for a potluck), as well as advice, a helping hand, tools and skills, and other traditionally neighborly support. Now with the six environmental educators who share the home where the goats (and chickens) are kept, this communal homestead-in-the-city vision has reached new heights.

While viewing pictures on the blog for the goat co-op, I saw a familiar face. It was Anna Gordon, whom I had met earlier this year when I interviewed her about her part in City Repair's VBC project at Madison High School. Once again pleased by the crazy ways that make Portland a very small world kind of place, I contacted her to ask if I could see the operation first hand. Always eager to share, she agreed.

 

I was struck at once with the organization of the house and the yard—I guess for six adults to live and work together successfully, a sense of order would be key. The cheese making and milking equipment (stainless steel buckets and strainers) were neatly stacked on a shelf.

She showed me the barn, pen, and milking room they built themselves, all of which are quite impressive. I met the goats, and their chicken sisters who live in an adjacent coop but spend a lot of time right in the pen with the goats.

"We make a lot of chevre right from the goat!" Anna tells me. She says at the peak of their production, there two milking goats were producing between 7 and 8 quarts of milk a day. Members of the house often pool their milk to make larger batches of cheese that they then share. While she says there has been some talk of selling milk, for the most part they are content with sharing it among the co-op members, and educating interested folks about urban homesteading and goat keeping.

 

Some of the inhabitants of the house have had goat keeping experience, which has helped the group create an ideal set up both for the health of the animals and the production of cheese. Anna's sister Nori and brother Matt, both of whom live there, have worked on goat farms. Another member of the group is the daughter of a veterinarian, who offers expert advice and care when needed. All of the housemates work in environmental education, so they welcome the attention of curious neighbors.

"Taking the goats for a walk takes a lot of effort, and a long time," Anna laughs. Goats may not be quite as easy to walk as dogs, so it requires more than one person. And then there are the many questions and comments from the people they run into.

"Sometimes we'll meet people from other cultures, who say things like, ‘my grandma had goats,' or tell stories that start with, ‘In my country... it's really nice."

 

These young urban homesteaders, with their large garden, chickens, and goats, are well on their way to a kind of self-sufficiency rare in the middle of an urban center.

A Return to Traditional Foods

Krista Arias, a nutritional therapist and owner of Generacion, who keeps two dairy goats at her home in the Humboldt neighborhood, answers the question "why do you keep goats?" with an enthusiastic, "Milk! Fresh raw milk—a nutrient dense food!" Arias teaches classes on the health benefits of traditional diets, and sees raw goats milk as an integral part of it. Her next class on goat keeping will be held at the Portland Community College Cascade campus, and will cover the basics of keeping goats in an urban environment. Until then, she offers this advice:

"Take them to graze," she says, "We take our goats to a vacant lot or to neighbors' yards." She adds that they should only be taken to areas where the owners don't have any plants they want to keep, as a goat can make short work of almost anything in a garden.

"Also, talk to your neighbors before you get [goats] and consider noise [that the goats will make] when selecting a breed. Consider milk lines when selecting and breeding your goat." She adds that of course they will need adequate protection from the elements.

In a city that is passionate about fresh and local food, it is no wonder there has been a rekindled interest in keeping goats. And, in an era where it is once again acceptable if not utterly cool to be frugal and self-sufficient, keeping goats can answer a need for a protein-rich, nutritious addition to a healthy diet.

All that aside, spending a little time with a goat reveals something else: they're pretty fun to have around.

View the slideshow for more urban goat keeping images, or visit our Flickr gallery: