50 Miler, Pack Goats

We rented our goats from a guy out in Tooele, Utah.  He raised the goats to be pack goats, and he gives discounts to Boy Scout troops. 

Go to http://www.highuintapackgoats.com/ to learn more about goats and his company.  These aren’t little goats, they’re pretty big, and have huge horns that sometimes spread 3 feet across!  They can carry approximately 30 pounds each!

Pack goats with Kings Peak in the background

We needed to go on a training trip with the goats to learn how to take care of them, and learn from the owner what to do in case of emergency or whatever else we might encounter.  Here’s some of the things we learned:

•         Goats love people.  We didn’t use leashes except to tie them up at night.  The followed us everywhere we went just because they want to be with us.  BUT, sometimes they will follow others you come to along the trail, so you may need to pull out the leash and keep them with you till you’re out of sight of others.

•          Horses are terrified of goats.  No idea why, but if you come upon a horse, it’s your duty to take the goats off the trail and let the horses pass.  We passed some pack horses once, and we did as we were told, but you could see in the horses’ eyes that they were terrified.  The way they walked almost sideways so they could watch the goats the whole time and slowly came up to us then rushed away.

•          Goats can graze along the trail, and at camp each day, but they also need some grain food each morning and night.  So, one of the goats carries the grain for them all for the week.

•          Goats need Vitamin B tablets each day to keep them from going into shock.  They don’t handle stress very well and once they go into shock, they’re dead within 24 hours.  So, we put a vitamin B pill in with a handful of grain and then let the goat eat out of our hands each morning and night.
  
  
•          The only time we tied up the goats was for the night.  They stayed untied and hung around us until we were ready for bed then we tied them up where they could eat some more grass for the night.  So that means they were wandering around camp the whole time we were cooking and eating and resting.  At first I thought they would wander, or be annoyingly close the whole time, but they were good at staying within 50 feet or less of the camp, and we only had one named “Oreo” who tried to get into stuff.  Twice he got into someone’s pack and stole a granola bar once, and a bag of trail mix another time.
  
  
•          You’d think that having goats with you would lure bears to the fresh meat, but just the opposite was true.  Each of the goats has a bell on his collar.  They like to hear each other and stay together, and it helps us to know where they are.  The bells also make more noise to keep the bears away.  You get used to hearing bells while you hike.

"OREO"  All ready to go

In all reality, having goats just meant that we brought along more stuff than we needed, but it was the experience we were after.  We wanted the boys to get the chance to take care of a pack animal.  They’re not farm boys, they don’t do that kind of stuff usually.

On our training trip they were terrified of the goats because they were somewhat skittish, and when someone hiked by with some dogs, the dogs chased the goats, and the goats tried to hide behind us for protection.  

That meant that the goats with 3 foot horn spans were running around us and the boys were sure we were going to get gored to death!  Pack goats don’t have soft hair, they have rough, thick hair.  AND they kind of stink.  So none of the boys were too excited about getting too close to the goats.

"TETHY'S" They like to roam around camp and come see you once in a while

But by the end of the 50 miles, the boys were hugging the goats, laying down with them to rest during the day, and loving each one for their own personalities.

Each person still brought their pack and carried almost all of their stuff.  The goats pretty much carried a couple of tents and some water and that was it.

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