Goat farmer urges people to stop giving goats as joke gifts

A Danish goat farmer is urging people to stop giving live animals as joke gifts after a goat given to someone who had not asked for one was put down, DR reports.

Tobias Christensen, who runs Nørgaards Geder, a family farm in Videbæk between Ringkøbing and Herning, said he receives calls about once a week from people hoping to buy a goat as a gift. His Facebook post about the practice has drawn thousands of reactions.

Christensen told DR’s P1 Morgen that a mother called him after her son received a goat he had not wanted. The animal was in a trailer, but it had no ear tag, making it difficult to trace where it came from or whether it carried disease. Christensen said he could not help, and the goat was ultimately put down.

He called giving an unwanted animal as a present a “sick form of humour,” saying a goat is a living creature that needs care every day of the year.

Christensen said the farm, which produces organic goat milk, has about 300 dairy goats as well as young stock and its own dairy. He said requests often come around trade qualification celebrations and milestone birthdays, and he tries to dissuade callers by suggesting they buy a stripper instead. A goat recently cost about 1,100 kroner, he said, while a male stripper he hired for his cousin’s wedding cost more.