The Belmont Goats

(Note: This video is from 2017, during an earlier stage of our location search, but most of it serves as a general introduction to both the animals and our organization. PDC/Prosper Portland has been our property partner for the duration of our successful stay in Lents, but is not involved with our next location. Video used by permission of Shelby Vaculin.)

Hi. We are The Belmont Goats . Portland's nonprofit resident herd, offering an oasis of rural community amidst the built, urban environment since 2012.

Our herd of 14 goats & 1 hen invites you help us move them from Lents Town Center to their next home in North Portland! Our all-volunteer staff is able to share the herd with the public only thanks to the generous and ongoing help of our financial supporters and host neighborhoods.

TIME-SENSITIVE UPDATE (10/09/2018)

Please read our Medium post  about the importance of raising at least $8,000 by October 15! If you or your organization supports animals, greenspace, or urban mental health, please consider sharing this fundraiser today!

SUMMARY

Lents has been their home since 2014, after two years on the original vacant lot in Buckman. Since all property suitable for Portland's publicly-accessible goats is land destined for development, every two or three years it's time to move on, giving a new neighborhood a chance to host the herd.

Where are we going this time?

We are in the process of finalizing a move to a little under one acre of this three-acre greenspace nestled in the University Park neighborhood of North Portland.


We will be setting up in about the same amount of space as we've had in Lents. Instead of our immediate environment providing a direct contrast with urban surroundings as in the past, The Belmont Goats now will be a kind of hidden, quiet respite within the city. We will still be accessible, and you will still be able to come visit us! Things will just be a bit more bucolic and peaceful now. (Sort of like The Grotto, but, you know, goats.) 

Our initial goal for this fundraiser is set to $15,000. We should get our first payout around October 25. The faster we make headway toward this goal, the sooner work can begin on the new site.

FINANCIALS

During our first move in 2014 from Buckman to Lents, we raised around $9000, plus $7,500 in additional grant money from the city, for around $16,500, which matched the importance and complexity of that major move.

For our second move in 2016, we raised around $5,000 (in two rounds), which matched the fact that we only had to move two blocks and the move was much simpler.

Neither of our previous relocations would have been possible without the extraordinary support of fans and friends of the goats from around the country and around the world. We need your help again for our third move.

This one will be much more like that first, more complicated move, only even more difficult. (For example, it involves much more fencing than we have had to deal with in prior moves.)

Unlike previous moves, this time we will need to pay not just for our perimeter of chain-link fencing but for installing a yard hydrant for the herd's water supply and (hopefully) for the major installation of an electrical panel both for tool use and, if we can establish internet service, for 24/7 live-streaming camera feeds, something we've been unable to achieve in any of our locations to date.

To start with, this fundraiser's initial goal of $15,000 likely covers fence materials and labor (we are still waiting on all the estimates we've requested), but not the installation of the yard hydrant. Depending on how things go, the yard hydrant and installation of temporary electrical service might  have to be stretch goals, or simply put off until a later date.

Falling short of this goal mostly means we might be purchasing fence parts and installing 860' of fencing ourselves, including drive gate and walk gate. Based on our fence-building experiences to date, this is not our first choice. Having an acre of land to secure, we'd be much more comfortable with a professional installation.

ABOUT US

The Belmont Goats is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit volunteer organization incorporated in the state of Oregon, EIN 46-5038819. None of the money raised here goes to the all-volunteer staff or volunteer board members of The Belmont Goats. Anything not accounted for by relocation costs goes toward our ongoing program budget.

“The goat field is the nexus of an unexpected and spontaneous community. Cyclists and taxi drivers chat together, both having rerouted their travels to visit the goats. Artists assemble by the dozens to sketch the goaty darlings as a team. Toddlers and grandparents and everyone in between are surprised and delighted by this touch of rural charm ... and strangers bond over it in a touching way!”
—K. Reynolds, 2014

 

Our beloved Belmont Goats are a treasure of St. Johns and now one of them needs your help. 7 year-old Atho became very sick, very quickly this week. He had to be rushed down to OSU and underwent surgery to remove a urinary blockage that included 15 large and 100's of tiny kidney stones - A situation we are all too familiar with since Cooper's first blockage in 2017. 
Atho underwent a relatively non-invasive surgery to remove the stones and give his body time to rest and heal.  So far he is doing well and we are optimistic that he will be able to return home soon.

Atho and his sister Winter are the youngest goats of the herd.  Atho was born to Duchess, our herd queen on the Winter Solstice of 2013.  He is a very sweet boy that we refer to as "Puppy" and he loves to show off his beautiful bright white teeth!

The surgery and aftercare have been very expensive and will continue.  The estimate we were given by OSU was $4000-$6000. 
Due to the pandemic, The Belmont Goats' gate hours had to be suspended for a long time and that resulted in the loss of of the majority of our donations.  We've tried to be modest in our requests for help during COVID because we know that resources are low, but we are completely volunteer run and public donations has been our only source of maintenance thus far. 

Please consider helping Atho and the 13 other Belmont Goats in their time of need.  Any donations beyond the cost of Atho's surgery and recovery will be used to facilitate the ongoing care and upkeep of the goats including food (they eat A LOT), medical care, supplies, barn repairs (because they love to prove and show off how strong they are)  etc. Our first order of business would be to schedule a herd wellness visit with our vet (We had planned to schedule it in early September).  Every dollar helps, and no donation is too small! 

We will also be restarting Gate Hours on August 21st to not only help raise funds, but to re-engage with the folks who love us and bring some joy back to the community.  We've done the best we can to stay connected via social media, but its time to get back to petting!  We are also planning more interactive ways to help maintain funds in the long run including new and regular merch offers and we're in talks to start a Patreon! 

More information 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.