Although it’s fairly rare in urban areas, the sight will surely be familiar to Centaurus students: 2 fully grown goats, wandering around behind the school, tended to by a woman with pigtails.
The famous goat lady of CHS has a name – and so do the goats. Florence Boski, a PE teacher at nearby charter school Prospect Ridge Academy, has been bringing her two goats, Midnight (black) and Coco (brown), to graze behind CHS everyday for nearly 5 years. “They were 3 days old when we started walking, and since then, they just [want their] walk,” she said.
Boski receives a lot of positive reactions to the goats. “I know [the students] definitely see us,” she said. “Of course I like it, you know, and I’m glad I’m making people happy and [giving] them a smile.” As she cheerfully detailed their story, the two wandered placidly, chewing on the nearby grass.
The goats, both 5 years old in January, (the 18th, to be precise), follow her around obediently – for the most part. “If Coco has something in mind and he wants to go, he’ll go…they’re trained as much as a goat can be,” she said. “They’re definitely spoiled pets.” Boski and her family live in an average sized home, accompanied by an average sized yard; walking allows the goats more grazing room. As to why she chose CHS, Boski said “We live across the street right here, and CHS is a nice place to go.” She also likes to walk them near Centaurus because it allows her to connect to wifi while they eat. “I can do stuff while they munch, because it’s not exercising for me. I’m just sitting, I might as well do work.”
While the choice of pet may seem odd, it seemed to be the perfect option for her family. “We got goats because I [didn’t want to] walk and take care of an animal too much, and it would be mostly me at home. And my husband grew up with goats so he was like ‘perfect, we’ll get some goats, you don’t need to walk them…they will eat the grass so you don’t need to mow the backyard, you know, all kinds of good things!’” That didn’t pan out, however, and she ended up walking the goats everyday. “Now I’m stuck with walking goats, which is much harder than walking dogs,” Boski said. “Coco will try to eat the trees.. And they actually won’t mow our lawn, because they [go to the bathroom] on it all day long, so they’re like ‘we are not eating that grass, this is dirty grass’”
“They’re spoiled. They know they get to go on the walk and eat the pristine stuff.”
But there are also plenty of upsides to the goats (aside from the fame). For example? Built-in composting. The goats will happily eat everything from dinner leftovers to mushy bananas; in fact, people at Prospect Ridge even save compost to send home with Boski for treats. “If there’s a granola bar that’s on the floor, I’ll pick it up and bring it home for them,” she said.
Still, it can be difficult to own goats in a residential area. To own them, they had to register them with the city (similar to owning a dog). “You can have exactly two goats in Lafayette; not one, and not more…they’re a herd animal, [so they need to be together].” There are a lot more variables in Lafayette than there would be if they lived on a farm: traffic, clean up, unhappy neighbors, the list goes on. Interacting with dogs can be especially tricky when walking the goats. “If the dog is not quite trained, they’ll [try to play].” The goats view the dogs as predators, so they will run, potentially causing further hazards for passersby. Boski said that technically, if she didn’t walk the goats, these factors wouldn’t be issues, but she feels bad for them otherwise.
The goats are very loyal to Boski, although Midnight more so than Coco. “Midnight is so chill…he [likes to] stay where the food is and where Mom is.” They have never tried to fully run away, but Coco has certainly caused some trouble; Coco is “the naughty one,” according to Boski. One time the family left their gate open, and Coco escaped and ate some newly planted fruit trees in their yard. “Suddenly we see him on the patio, and we’re like ‘What?! What?! There’s a goat right here!’”
Rather than being miffed at the presence of two goats on BVSD property, the groundskeepers of Centaurus actually encourage her walks. She said they have told her the goats can “eat all the weeds they want,” so long as they aren’t on campus during the school day (the same regulations as those for local dog walkers.) They can usually be found around school for about an hour in the evenings; the goats know the routine, and stick to it stubbornly.
Students are allowed to come in small groups to pet the goats. Larger groups scare the goats, Boski explained, but if students want to say hi the goats are very friendly. “I’m glad [we] make them smile,” she said.
When asked to comment, the goats had nothing to say.
