“Life’s a dance, you learn as you go….” these words, well sung by John Michael Montgomery, ring in my head as I think about my visit to The Dancing Goat and the FarmHer that runs the popular urban goat dairy, Pam Lunn. You see, 20 years ago Pam had no experience with livestock.
She worked in corporate America in her home in Tampa, Florida. Her husband convinced her to move to the edge of the city to an equestrian community where they purchased a house and three acres.
As her son grew he became interested in showing goats and Pam traveled with him across many states showing their beloved animals. Not too long after 9/11 hit, the economy went south along with the government contracts funding Pam’s job. She found herself looking to restart a career and to do that she looked to the goats.
The Dance of Life Begins
And so began the dance, The Dancing Goat dairy that is. Since then Pam has added more goats, chickens, ducks, banana trees, and soon even a pig to her farm. She built a barn, right there in the middle of an urban Tampa neighborhood. Then she built an adjoining guest house, which is the base of operations for The Dancing Goat.
It’s out of that guest house that she sells her popular goat milk, yogurt, cheese, and soap products.
As the farm has grown so has Pam’s need for help.
Volunteers at The Dancing Goat
A dairy requires constant work, not to mention the selling and marketing that has to occur in this small business. Pam has a steady stream of volunteers arriving at the farm, and I met a few during my time at The Dancing Goat. Volunteers that come to care for and play with the baby goats for her popular “nanny program.” The volunteers work to keep the “kid’s” pens clean, wash off their playground equipment, and also just plain play.
Skills to Last a Lifetime
Pam also has started a unique program training FFA kids in the intricacies of running a dairy, right in the middle of Tampa. She employs FFA kids who are looking to work with the animals for a variety of reasons; many of them are interested in going into veterinary science.
The kids volunteer at the farm in exchange for gas money, and the occasional bonus when they get good grades. Each kid must maintain a GPA of at least 3.0 to continue their work on the farm – work they love and strive to keep up with.
The day I was there three FFA girls arrived to trim hooves on goats, while another one worked to milk the goats. As I watched this young FarmHer with my camera it was clear that she loves what she does as she moved her steady hands through the detailed tasks.
Pam’s unexpected dance in life – starting, growing, and succeeding at her urban goat dairy, The Dancing Goat, was a pleasure to visit. It’s a joy to see this woman who recreated her career to find her passion in agriculture and exciting to see as she spreads her love to the next generation of FarmHers.
This story is so cool and inspiring.I love this story.
Summer 5 odd 6th Grade Health Class
I really enjoyed reading this. I learned about the goat industry and this is helpful to me because I have goats and needed some more information on them in order to show them at the county fair. this was very helpful.
I love thus story and how it talks about how she went from low to higher and higher.I also liked seeing how much people helped her when she had more work to do.An another and last thing I liked was that it just talks about farming because my dad and my grandparents live on a farm.
I liked the article because it tells us that we can start a helping at farm at a young. I learned that if you want to start a farm it is good to have good Volunteers. This helps us show how to grow a farm with good help
Nora 4 odd Mrs.Arey’s health class
I loved reading this passage.This passage tells us that we can start helping at a farm at a young age.I learned to start a farm you need good volunteers to help.
I love how you named the company because it reminds me of a dancing goat I saw once. I think that you were right to make goat products because you improvised with what you had, goats! Who knows maybe I’ll find out how to make goat products and it might be fun to do.
i love this story because it tells of a person who did not know how to farm then the person did learn how to farm and let kids help her farm.
Looking at this article, I’m that Pam started dairy because of her son. Wow! This is a wonderful, well written, inspiring piece of work.
This is interesting because she made goat things for the dancing goat memories and a diary about pam. i can find this useful because of how she made the products.
I like this article because of the company name and how you explain the memories. I find the process of making the products useful. And something I think is important is how they made stuff for the goat so it does not feel left out!!
I loved this story it so cool and inspiring.
Dear Pam,
I love all of the hard work that you do. You are a strong women, and I love it! I love that Pam was not afraid to ask for help.
– Makaiya 1E
I liked the article because it taught me that dancing goats are a thing and this is useful info because I have been a dancer since I was 3 so, this might be something I would like to try.
I like the fact that they let kids help on the farm
hello, I liked this one because she successfully made a farm she liked even tho she lost a career.
I liked this article because it taught me that there are many steps to be are FarmHet and it takes a lot of effort.
I liked it because the goats are very cute and it was neat to see the lady lose her job and then have a career involving the goats .And it was neat that she involved the FFA kids in the business.