Travel
Open year-round, Beach Goats invites visitors to explore P.E.I.’s natural beaches with the company of some delightful furry friends
On a lush island packed with unique experiences is the GOAT of farm animal experiences. Overlooking the warm seas of the Northumberland Strait in St. Chrysostome, P.E.I. is Beach Goats, a passion and calling for Devon Saila and her friendly herd of mini silky and Nigerian dwarf goats.
Several years ago, on a hot, calm summer day, one of Saila’s goats hopped aboard her son’s stand-up paddleboard in the rust-coloured waters off the family farmhouse, and things have never been the same since.
“Goats are like cats; they usually hate water, but these guys never got the memo,” explains Saila. Small, soft, cuddly and hornless, these goats are ridiculously cute, and as more friends popped by to play and interact with her goats, Saila wondered if visitors to the island would pay for a similar, fun experience.
Today, Beach Goats is often fully booked as visitors arrive to participate in various flexible activities. If you’re active, you can go stand-up paddleboarding with a goat (they do enjoy it). Or you could stay on the beach house patio and hand wash a goat (they enjoy that, too). You can do beach yoga with a goat and have a goat iron out your knots by walking on your back. Beach Goats offers goat walks with a local botanist, learning about local flora in the Strait. Visitors are also invited to milk a goat, play with the goats, and, in winter, snowshoe with the goats as they operate year-round. Booking ahead online, you can reserve a private visit, toddler playgroups, or do a public drop-in twice a week in the summer. The goats love the attention, and adults and kids love giving it to them.
Beach Goats is our first family stop in P.E.I. after a sleepless red-eye journey from the West Coast. My overtired eight-year-old is on the red zone warpath, whining and restless, driving me up the wall and around a bend. Also around the bend, on one of those fetching P.E.I. roads lined with fairway garden lawns, I see the sign for Beach Goats by appointment only. We follow the directions to the beach and spot a half dozen goats grazing on the grass. Within seconds, my son is beaming like a reborn village herder—miniature goats clearly beam sunshine into storms, rainbows into tantrums, and peaceful rest into jet lag.
“I love goats because of their fun, intelligent demeanour, their incredible compassion, and their empathy. They choose to work with humans to get what they need accomplishing and they are just incredible animals overall,” says Saila. She fell in love with goats as a little girl in Kingston, Ont., particularly with a mascot goat named David at Fort Henry. There’s still a postcard of David in her modest, beach-front gift shop.
Saila hands my son a hose, some shampoo and conditioner. Hope, a white-furred, pink-nosed ambassador of goat joy, is getting hand-washed on the deck. All the while, Saila answers our questions, explaining goat behaviour and the practicalities of keeping one as a pet. They recognize their names, are clean and intelligent, and can even be house-trained. Saila sells goats to loving homes, and it helps if you have endless beach grass that needs a little grazing. And what’s cuter than an adorable fluffy white goat? An adorable fluffy white goat with shiny, clean fur that smells like summer berries.
Saila’s teenage son takes my kid and a goat for a paddleboard ride, and then we accompany the herd up the beach so they can feast on wild mustard and juicy summer grass. P.E.I.’s iron-rich beach sand and endless blue sky add to the surrealness of it all. My son bonds with black and white splotched Apollo, a living stuffie toy and instant fix for jet lag. We play with Izzy, Sparrow, Harriet and Tinkerbell and could have spent all afternoon with the goats, but the next party has arrived for their session. No sooner does the group exit their car than I see their hearts melting in real-time. We say goodbye to the bleating goats, hop into the car, and my son falls asleep in seconds, a peaceful smile on his face.
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