Photography by Danny Fulgencio

Tara Stargrove’s parents had goats when she was growing up in Oregon. When she bought a house in Texas four years ago, she didn’t want to mow the lawn.

Now she and her 6-year-old son have four goats and a mini horse.

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Stargrove is the manager of Tyler Station, and she owns commercial property in Oak Cliff. She and her son live on a little more than half an acre in Duncanville, where a permit is required to keep livestock.

The goats know the sound of Stargrove’s car and come running when she arrives. She can also call to them, here goat-goat,” and they will come. “They’re better than any dog,” she says. “They can talk and make weird noises. They’re very intelligent.”

For example, a squash plant volunteered in her yard this summer. While goats are known for eating anything, Stargrove says they know to leave the squash plant and wait for the fruit.

Goats always want to be on the highest plane — king of the mountain — and Stargrove puts various items, such as picnic tables and wooden cable spools, in the backyard for them to climb and play with. Other than that, goats require some kind of shelter from the rain and supplemental feed.

Stargrove’s goats are such pets that they wear collars, and she and her son take them for walks in their neighborhood,
where they are local celebrities.

“At least once a day, there are people coming to see the goats,” Stargrove says. “It’s become an attraction for the neighborhood.”