Sizing Up a Breed

When Judy Starbuck saw a pygmy goat for the first time on television 25 years ago, she said to her husband, George, “I love that!”

Shortly thereafter, he bought her one, and then another and then another. The Starbucks, who live in the Antelope Valley, have a yard full of furry little does, bucks and kids, none more than 18 inches tall.

You will be able to see hundreds of the creatures, some the best examples of the breed, Saturday during the annual Christmas Classic Pygmy Goat Show at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds in Lancaster. The event is free to the public.

The Starbucks are leaders in the pygmy goat breeding community, traveling across the nation to judge competitions and organizing their own show each December in Lancaster. Sanctioned by the National Pygmy Goat Assn., the fair attracts breeders and owners from around the U.S., mostly from Western states.

“It’s not a sales event, but people put up business cards or little signs so you can contact them if you want,” Judy said recently at her ranch-style home near Placerita Canyon.

She and fellow breeders are explicit about the type of people who should own pygmy goats as pets. She said she goes so far as to visit the homes of those who want to buy one from her.

“You don’t sell to just anybody” she said. “This is not a household pet. It’s really a barnyard pet. Our goats are outside all day.”

Her own yard is kept free of fall leaves, which goats love to eat. Thanks to small fences, her roses are intact. The goats can be kept from eating flowers by a simple, 2-foot-high wire barrier, she said.

The Starbucks’ animals sleep in an outdoor pen near an alfalfa feeder.

“At the end of the day, you call them,” Judy Starbuck said. “Or they come on their own looking for us to give them treats like peanuts. They can even be housebroken, if you want to allow them inside. But you can’t keep them off the piano because they want to be in the highest place they can get to.”

Despite the notion that goats will eat anything, they are picky eaters, George said. He devised a special feeder bin to make sure his goats ate the alfalfa stems, as well as the leaves, because they are nutritious. And he cautioned potential owners to consider other family pets when acquiring a pygmy goat.

“Cats and some dogs can learn to get along with a goat very well, but remember dogs are natural predators [when it comes to goats],” he said.

BE THERE

2000 Christmas Classic Pygmy Goat Show, Saturday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m., Antelope Valley Fairgrounds Junior Barn, 115 East I Street, Lancaster. Free parking and admission. Call (661) 252-7129.