Written By: Gale Hall
Many grew up with a specific iteration of the same children’s toy one that taught a few simple truths. Those truths include, “The cow goes moo, the duck goes quack, and the goat goes baa.” But how many people do you think grew up with the thought they would one day hear the baa of goats on the grounds of their college campus? Well, on September 20th, that was just the case. At 5 p.m., on the Fultz Quad, Buttinhead Farms opened the gate to Lycoming College’s second annual Goat Therapy Session—a collaboration between Buttinhead Farms and the first-year area of Residential Life.
Students could feed, hold, and pet any of the 19 goats brought to campus. Some students even had the goats climb on their backs, which turned into a group of 9 students forming a catwalk for the goats to walk along. Even Dean Miller joined the fun as a goat climbed on his back.
The goats were remarkably well-behaved, given the fact more than 50 students were in the pen at a given moment.
As I spoke with members of Buttinhead Farms, we came to learn just how remarkable these animals are. Buttinhead Farms births and raises all their goats. The surprising fact was that these goats were born in March of this year, making them only seven months old! Though among these kids, there was an old-timer named Thor, who is now two and a half years old, earning Thor his well-known title as the star of Buttinhead’s Goat Grams.
Buttinhead Farms’ other events include painting classes, where the herd is free to wander amongst the painters. They put on movie nights and concerts where the goats are in the audience, and its next movie night is on October 7th. Events put on by the Farm are around two to three hours long. This gives clients lots of time with the animals but isn’t so long that the goats become agitated.
After two hours of goat therapy, the results were undeniable. Several students came running across campus to see the goats. With smiles all around and students jokingly claiming the goats as their own, it was clear that both students and goats alike had a wonderful time.
