WESTCHASE, Fla. — Nestled right off Race Track Road close to the Pinellas/Hillsborough county line sits a goat farm.
Probably not quite what you'd expect for the area but it's been a successful farm since 2007.
"I came out of corporate America in 2000 to start developing the farm. In 2007, we became legal, selling raw milk and that's our primary product here is the raw milk, raw goat milk. We are an urban sustainable, nonprofit farm," explained the owner of the Dancing Goat Farm, Pam Lunn. "Sustainable that we do water catchment, we're doing solar to charge our golf cart and to charge our various lawn equipment."
It's evident the farm is a passion project for Lunn. Her children raised showed goats as kids but once they grew out of it, she continued.
"Once you have a goat you fall in love. It's like Lay's potato chips. You can't have just one," explained Lunn.
Her kids are still involved with the Dancing Goat. Her son runs her social media and her daughter and husband help out with various markets.
Like a lot of businesses, 2020 was a challenging year.
"Yeah, we were going downhill it was really touch-and-go during 2020, whether or not we were going to be in business in October 2020. I didn't know how we were gonna stay in business. We've had very kind people help us. We have a lot of volunteers have stepped in a lot of donations," explained Lunn.
It's the volunteers that make the Dancing Goat possible. But, of course, like any mom, is a labor of love.
"Our nanny program is we bring people in, it's a four-month commitment. They have to learn how to deliver babies, process newborns. They wipe butts, they clean pans. Anything a human nanny would do for human babies, our nanny's do for the goat babies," explained Lunn.
They also could use volunteers to help rebuild cages, unload hay, etc. There's plenty of work to be done.
"We have been elevated to an internship with the Hillsborough County School System. So we will provide those Bright Futures hours for them. It is a six-month commitment. They don't get the first hour until they complete that six months. We have to do that because we invest a lot of time 20 to 25 hours in training these kids," explained Lunn.
You can read more about their efforts and products by clicking here.
