Goat Yoga At Hux Family Farm In Durham North Carolina

I’m not a yoga person, but the animal lover in me has always wanted some snuggles with adorable dwarf goats, so goat yoga was the best avenue I found for this.  After searching for classes near me, the one location in Greensboro that I found seemed to be closed for the colder months so I was thrilled to find Hux Family Farm only an hour away in Durham, North Carolina.  Classes are $23 per person, which I found to be quite reasonable.  I was giddy as I booked a class for the very next day and proceeded to tell my husband I had a surprise for him.  Thankfully he’s spontaneous and went along with me without knowing what we were doing! 

We received a logistics email that had some basic instructions to prepare us for our visit:

• Bring a few large towels to put down over the provided yoga mats
• Wear clothes you don’t mind getting dirty
• No perfume/cologne or scented lotions that would disturb the goats
• Secure long hair in a bun and no dangling jewelry as the goats like to nibble on things

Once we arrived, we got checked in at the farm and were able to purchase a bucket of organic vegetables for $1 to feed the goats before the class (this is optional but I highly recommend it as it was so fun to watch them devour the greens).  You can also bring your own organic veggies for them if you’d prefer.  They love their food!

Before the goats were brought into the yoga area, we were briefed on how to interact with them (they are trained as therapy goats), how they would be involved in the exercises, and how to safely pick them up.  We had about 12 people in our class so we had a great ratio since there were over 20 goats (one pygmy and the rest were Nigerian Dwarf) and a few sheep as well, not to mention the sweetest Great Pyrenees ever, Ragnar!

It was funny to see the various reactions in the class as the goats came in.  There were some squeals of excitement (me included), lots of laughing, some baby talk to the goats, and ubiquitous smiles!  It was neat to see how goats seemed to choose certain people to sit with and congregated mostly in families.  I had a bunch with me in the beginning, but then they gravitated toward my husband and mostly stayed there the remainder of the class.

Our instructor took us through various stretches and poses during the hour-long class, but explained that it was up to us how much we participated.  I liked that the format was incredibly laid back so everyone could just enjoy themselves.  I personally spent most of the time bonding and playing with the goats (as did my husband since they took up most of his mat space).  It was hilarious to see one of the smaller goats (Maverick) jump on the back of one of the guys in the class as we were all doing a tabletop pose.  The goats and sheep truly seemed to love snuggling up to everyone and interacting with us.

We had time afterward to hang out with our favorite goats and learn about their personalities and how they got their names.  I couldn’t get enough of these cuties and loved getting so many fun pictures!  On the way out, we stopped by their tables that offered cute goat-themed attire and plenty of goat milk products, along with farm fresh eggs.

Hux Family Farm partners with the nearby Elodie Farms to offer some amazing goat cheese products.  We chose the jalapeño goat cheese (has a nice kick to it but isn’t overly spicy), goat milk soap and my personal favorite, the blackberry goat cheese mousse!  It was like eating cheesecake without the crust.  Creamy but deliciously fluffy and light with the perfect amount of berries.  This whole jar was gone before we were even 30 minutes down the road!  I would highly recommend getting some if you’re ever near either of these farms.

The owners of the farm (Amanda and Matthew) were friendly and welcoming and were more than willing to answer any questions we had.  I love their holistic approach to caring for all their animals and would definitely love to come back to see some baby goats!  You can find out more about the other programs they offer by going to their Instagram or Facebook page.

What do you think?  Would you give goat yoga a try?  We definitely enjoyed branching out and experiencing the calming and humorous presence of the goats.

Thank you for reading!

Emily