January through September, we rescue many baby goats. They are all throwaways from various dairy farms who didn’t care if they were suffering, if they ended up slaughtered or if they died from starvation or neglect. Many of our sweet boys grow up and are adopted into loving homes, become professional grazers for the wonderful non-profit City Grazing in San Francisco, and many stay with us at Goatlandia.
The most recent baby rescued is Alexander. He was saved by a good samaritan who witnessed him walking on a leash in Francisco with an inebriated person. She could tell he was just a baby and in need of proper food and shelter. So she "bought" him from the person and took him to Goatlandia.
It’s a misconception that goat dairy farms are not as cruel as cow dairy farms. In all cases, females need to give birth in order to produce milk. If the babies are male, dairy farmers have no use for them and quickly get rid of them. The majority of the time, they are hours or days born and taken away from their mothers before they can nurse, which means they don’t receive colostrum which they need to properly fully develop their immune and digestive systems.
By the time the babies reach us, they are often sick. In the worst cases, they have diarrhea caused by a parasite called cryptosporidium. It’s really hard for their systems to fight any illness when their systems can’t properly develop.
