Support The Belmont Goats for #GivingTuesday

Friends, followers, neighbors, and goat lovers!

Thank you - All of you - for your continued love, support, neighborly concern, photo sharing, comments, and weekly visits! We appreciate everyone being so great with the goats, and making us feel like a part of the community!


As you might know, we've had a number of health-related things come up over the past year or so. Cooper's health issues being ongoing, sweet Juniper's short illness before she passed, and most recently Dusty needed to be seen after eating something that made him sick. All of these issues have warranted vet visits, and at least three of them have been under emergency circumstances (either holidays, weekends, or immediate need). We've helped them to the best of our abilities, and when we feel like we've hit the extent of our knowledge as caretakers, we are diligent in getting them professional help. There are obviously things that can be treated at home, but other issues that require more highly trained skills that we don't have. We love our goats, and we do whatever is necessary to get them the care they need. Unfortunately, that care can be expensive, as goats are less commonly treated outside of specialty vet services. We have worked with 3 large animal emergency clinics in our history. They all provide stellar services, but financially it's become more of an issue recently.



We want to be able to do more "fun" fundraisers, but we've been struggling to get ahead of some of our bills. We would love to have more options for things like Goat Swag that could be available for purchase, but those require some overhead - like enamel pins, pre-ordered t-shirts, water bottles, stickers, etc. to have at the field.  One of our goals is to hire a grant writer to help us get more sustainable funding in order to do the more fun things regularly!

In general, we are asking for your support in continuing to do what we do. Our organization is completely volunteer-run. We would love to be able to spend more time with the goats and their visitors in person (including more frequent open hours), and one way to help make that possible is to help cover some of our immediate expenses. Right now, we are spending much of our spare time trying to figure out ways to work this out.

There are a few things we could use your help with:

1.) Our goats are getting older. They require more regular routine veterinary care, and there will be health-related issues that will come up as they continue to age. Because of the size of the herd, we require a house call from our vet which is an added expense. This also comes with being a public herd – Keeping up with their health is just as important for them as it is for the people who come to visit. We do have an outstanding balance with Oregon State University's Large Animal Clinic. Their help with Cooper has been spectacular, and we owe them a heart-debt we can never repay for helping us keep Cooper healthy. We currently owe them $6500 for emergency services, boarding, medication, and interest on the initial amount.

2.) Our hay bill more than doubled recently. We found ourselves needing to switch to a new hay provider, and were suggested Linnton Feed by several followers. They are wonderful, and their hay is much higher quality, but it's also considerably more expensive. It does make a difference in the health of the herd, and we would like to continue to purchase from them. A 2 month supply for our herd of 14 is about $525.

3.) Our insurance payment is coming up. We quarterly pay $535 to our insurance company as a legal requirement to keep the goats open and accessible to the public. We lease this land from the Portland
Housing Bureau, and as a stipulation of our agreement, we have to maintain a certain amount of insurance.

5.) More than anything, we are hoping to have a small buffer that would allow us to stash away for when these issues come up.

To be clear, we are not in danger of closing – we just want to be able to function more comfortably and in a way that allows us to be present at the field and as an organization. We enjoy all of the visits we have, and would love to engage more in that capacity, and we could more easily do so with less of a financial burden.

We are free to come visit. We do accept donations on-site, and those donations are sincerely appreciated! We would love for you to consider a donation to The Belmont Goats during the holiday season this year! We are a registered 501c3 Nonprofit, and a donation to us is tax deductible!

Most importantly – please share this link with others! Even one share makes a difference! Please share this with any people or organizations you think might be interested!

About The Belmont Goats: The Belmont Goats provides urban public access to domestic goats within Portland, Oregon, and/or its surroundings. This experience also may be provided to specific communities deemed to benefit from such access. The Belmont Goats is "Portland's nonprofit resident herd", offering an oasis of rural community amidst the built urban environment.