Goat Yoga
With the Grady Goat Foundation
Just north of Tampa, Florida, Debbie Canton and her husband, Rob, run the Grady Goat Foundation (GGF), which offers weekly goat yoga classes. Many people are familiar with goat yoga now, but when they started in 2017, they were likely the first in Florida to offer the tranquility of stretching and meditating while a goat jumps on and off your back playfully. Today, after winning a Guinness World Record, they continue their classes to provide funds for neglected or abandoned goat kids as well as human kids facing adversity.
Grady the Goat
The foundation started when Grady the goat, born on March 16, 2017, showed signs of physical limitations. He was blind and deaf due to a form of polio. The Cantons bottle-fed Grady after his mother rejected him. He showed a “zest for life” despite his limitations. Grady lived for six months, much longer than the veterinarian projected. His ability to overcome adversity during his short life inspired the Cantons to launch the GGF and even to rename their homestead to Grady Goat Farm.
In addition to supporting goat kids and human children facing adversity, the GGF launched Project GOAT (Global Offensive Against Trafficking) during its successful attempt to break the world record for the largest goat yoga class.
Guinness and Goats
Before beating the Guinness World Record, the GGF did several weekly classes. “We didn’t want to just beat the record. We wanted to smash it,” Debbie Canton laughs.
The previous record was a measly 350 participants. At the time, the GGF had 150 goats of mixed sizes and breeds, which were mostly donated due to goat fanatics quickly learning the cute, pajama-wearingkid phase is fleeting. Out of the motley herd, 115 participated in the record.
Guinness has many rules, including the ratio of people to goats. Another was that all goats had to be over 1 year of age. Rather than paying someone from the U.K. to fly over and observe the event, the GGF recorded it from multiple angles as proof. The event included a VIP area, food and drink vendors, and a play area with baby goats.
Benefits of Goat Yoga
Yoga has many benefits, including flexibility, strength, and reducing psychological stress. Starting goat yoga sessions on your homestead may also help with publicity and your finances. However, Canton says it’s a lot of work to make it a successful experience. “Just like a wedding reception, the participants don’t see all the work that goes into it. Everybody just enjoys the event, but they don’t see all the behind-the-scenes,” Canton says. Currently, the GGF relies on the weekly Saturday goat yoga sessions as its main fundraisers to support its goat and children’s charities. So, it’s possible to procure a lot of money from offering goat yoga, but a business plan should be made and modified based on feedback.
Part of the success is how Canton manages not just the goats but, more importantly, the human participants. Prior to class, Canton tells the group, “When a baby comes up, and they want to chew on your shirt or on your hair or on your water bottle, you need to let them do that because this is what you paid for.” This ensures the goats are comfortable with people, which aids the Foundation when vaccines, catch-ups, or hoof trims are needed.
The goat participants include month-olds up to yearlings. The young goats join the class, which helps with their socialization, and the older goats act as mentors.
“I’m on top of everything to make sure that nobody’s making any fast moves at the babies,” Canton says. The yearling pros work for treats and are the ones to jump on people’s backs. Others are happy sitting on a mat or in somebody’s lap, getting scratched during the whole hour.
Everybody’s in it for the social media pictures,” Canton explains. “It’s great because, for some [goats], that’s their gig. That’s what they love to do. They run into class, and that’s the first thing they want to do is jump on somebody’s back.”
Baby Goats
The baby goats are taken to yoga classes in small increments, leading to longer sessions. In the beginning, they’re used for photo ops, which helps with the Foundation’s advertising. As they grow, they get to stay in the class for longer periods of time. This is only possible by Canton hiring a professional yoga instructor while she and her team manage the goats.
“Right now, we have 4-week-olds whose first class was this week. The moms stay in the barn or in one of the pastures while yoga is going on, and they get extra food, extra treats, and it’s kind of a little bit of a break. Every mom needs a morning off,” Canton says with a smile.
Long Term Success
Even though they’re approaching eight years of goat yoga, her team conducts a postmortem after every class to identify improvements. “I want a lot of good posts afterward and good reviews,” Canton says. “After yoga, we ask, ‘What could we have done better?’ We’re always striving to make it the best experience for people.”
Separating the yoga instructor from the goat handlers was one key to their success. Since the goats are active and many yoga connoisseurs may not be familiar with goats, there ends up being a lot of questions. The education factor is something that the participants really enjoy.
Since 2017, they’ve hosted over 20,000 goat yoga participants and donated to over 20 charities, some of which include Apple A Day Foundation, Boys and Girls Club, Limitless Solutions, Wheelchairs 4 Kids, American Cancer Society, United Cerebral Palsy, and many more.
KENNY COOGAN earned a master’s degree in Global Sustainability and has published over 400 articles on pets, livestock, and gardening. He lives on a 1-acre homestead with a flock of Pekin ducks, managing a permaculturestyle landscape. Coogan also runs a successful carnivorous plant nursery in Tampa. Listen to Coogan co-host podcasts by visiting Mother Earth News and Friends Podcast.
