Robert Hatton-Fearnley of Climbing High Farms is hopeful his team of 13 pack goats will be ready for hiking and camping trips for the 2022 summer.
Hatton-Fearnley had always wanted to use the land he owns for farming, but it wasn’t until he was hiking with his father and friends that he decided to raise pack animals for camping trips in the foothills.
“It just happened that goats caught my eye, with how people talked about them, their experiences with goats, and their ability to pack camping gear. There were a lot of benefits to goats,” Hatton-Fearnley said.
A typical day for Hatton-Fearnley begins before 6 a.m. when he feeds the goats.
“In the evenings, it’s the same thing. I’ll feed them when I get home, or my son will feed them,” Hatton-Fearnley said.
“When the babies come, we will bottle feed them until they are old enough to be off the bottle. Bottle feeding helps because you spend an enormous amount of time with them raising them and feeding them and getting them used to humans. There’s a bonding that happens there,” he said.
Since bringing the goats to his farm in October, Hatton-Fearnley has run into challenges caring for them.
“When something goes wrong, we call it the goat rodeo, it can get pretty intense. Trimming their hooves or giving them any kind of medication can be difficult,” Hatton-Fearnley said.
“The most difficult part is being OK with doing all of the work, which I was aware of. There’s nothing in farm life that doesn’t require an immense amount of labour,” he said.
To ensure the goats are properly trained for the 2022 summer, Hatton-Fearnley takes the goats on hiking trips multiple times a week, and on a longer hike every couple of weeks.
“Training consists of walking and training them to follow behind me, keeping control of them. That’s to teach them that I’m the alpha of the heard. There is an alpha of the goats, and if I don’t keep him under control, he can lead the goats away from me,” Hatton-Fearnley said.
“I work closely with him, he’s usually right behind me, and I keep him from passing me with a hiking pole. I want to make sure they don’t get any bad manners,” he said.
For Hatton-Fearnley, increasing the goat’s stamina and endurance is extremely important.
“They are not a high stamina animal, but they are very strong and very agile. They are used to getting away from predators by going by two hundred feet into the hills quickly, and that’s all they ever have to do, so I have to give them more endurance,” Hatton-Fearnley said.
Hatton-Fearnley’s original goal was to train the goats to pack camping gear to make a camping trip to the mountains longer, and more comfortable, however, now it’s evolved into giving families a unique camping experience.
“When you get to the camping areas, they are untouched and beautiful. They are an amazing experience for people, and the goats add another level to that,” Hatton-Fearnley said.
“We would give families a whole weekend experience. We plan to have our big boys pack up the gear, the tents, sleeping bags, and food, we will have a female goat so she can be milked, and we’ll have two of the little goats, they are wonderful to sit with, play with, and they will run around,” he said.
Adding, “It gives the family a real adventure, in a safe and controlled way. It will be catered towards each family, their abilities, and the gear that they do or do not have, we can supply everything, or we can supply nothing.”
Hatton-Fearnley wants families to see how special the goats can be, by sharing them.
“These animals are more than you expect them to be. There’s an immense amount of love for the animal, they work for you, they accept you, they accept spending time with you, and they desire to be around you,” Hatton-Fearnley said.
“If you have a bad day, you go sit with the goats and pet them and it doesn’t seem so bad. That’s where the desire to share them with others has come from, because if I’m feeling that way, surely others will feel that way,” he said.
The goats have changed the Hatton-Fearnley family dynamic, as every day, there is something new with the goats.
“My desire is truly to share them with people because I didn’t expect it, but it changed the dynamic with my whole family. My son loves them for his own reasons, my daughter loves them for her own reasons, and my wife loves them for her own reasons, but it’s brought us closer together,” Hatton-Fearnley said.
Adding, “I didn’t expect that, and it turned out to be my favourite part.”
Going forward, Climbing High Farms is excited to offer goat grams for Valentine’s Day.
“Due to COVID-19 we can’t do a lot, but we want to share the goats with people. The idea of these animals is really special and important, especially with the way people feel nowadays, with the disappointment and the hardships that everybody is enduring. This is something really light,” Hatton-Fearnley said.
For more information, visit the Climbing High Farms Facebook page at, https://www.facebook.com/climbinghighfarms/.
