Goat yoga draws flock to farm
EIGHT people dressed in brightly coloured athletic tops and soft pants sat on foam mats and stretched until five tiny Nigerian Dwarf goats, the size of small dogs, pranced into the studio and their goat yoga class began.
Tucked away in a wooded corner of southern New Hampshire, Jenness Farm is the latest small US agricultural operation to cash in on the social media-driven trend, in which yoga enthusiasts practise moves like the cat pose and bridge pose while goats climb around and sometimes on them.
Peter Corriveau, who owns the farm in Nottingham about 100km north of Boston, said he had toyed with the idea for several months before launching his first class last month.
He said people who follow the farm on social media had been sending him videos of goat yoga for more than a year.
“We did this dry run, posted some pictures and really hadn’t thought that far ahead. And it’s just exploded. The phone is ringing continuously for people wanting to sign up for classes.”
Corriveau admits his is far from the first farm to offer goat yoga classes, which can be found from Oregon to Arizona to Massachusetts.
The farm is home to about 30 goats of different species and its main business is goat-milk soap, which it sells at wholesale and a retail shop on the property, which is open for tours.
Initially, its yoga teachers are conducting their classes in a side room off the store but Corriveau, 52, said he planned to renovate the upper floor of the milking barn into a studio space, allowing it to double class sizes.
Instructor Janine Bibeau said the animals never failed to delight her students. – Reuters