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Julie Buffum of West Chesterfield raises three sweet little goats with her husband, Seth, and their four children. Buffum has created a traveling petting zoo and brings her goats and other animals to events and even with her to work. What made you decide to get goats? I had a goat when I was little. My mother actually tells me how I took it trick-or-treating one time. I had wanted a goat for a while to share that experience with my own kids. How did you find the goats that you have? My friend saw on Facebook that someone had a goat for only $100. We visited him, and a few weeks later, we went and picked him up. He has been a really great goat. His name is Dusty. After that, I came across a person from Vermont who had bottle-fed goats, which can have a better bond with their owners. I got one brown and white goat at first. We named him Teddy. The day I picked up Teddy, I told the guy that I wanted a black and white goat, and he showed me some black and white goats that had just been born that morning — we picked one of them and named him Domino. What is it like bottle-feeding the goats? It is just so precious. My daughter could feed them, and I even brought them to my work so the residents could bottle-feed them. Bottle-feeding goats is so magical and wonderful, but weaning them was difficult and took a little longer than expected. I don't know if I would ever get a bottle-fed goat again, though, because they are super needy. How did you start your traveling petting zoo? It all started with somebody on Facebook posting that they were having their sister's 30th birthday and they were looking for somebody to bring goats. I thought, "Oh yeah, sure. I'll do that!" We brought them over there, and I even put cowboy hats and bandanas on them. Everyone loved that. After the birthday party, I just thought it would be great to bring them to work. At the time, I even had chickens that I brought and my son's Flemish giant rabbit. This fall, I brought the three goats to work and more rabbits. How do you transport the goats around? I transport them in dog crates in our vehicle. They are actually really calm. Have you had any challenges with raising your goats? We had one goat die from listeria because he got into some wet hay. We also had an issue when the babies ate some rhododendrons that I had trimmed. They were frothing around their mouths, and I had to bring them to the emergency vet in Walpole. After that, we cut down the rhododendron bush and ripped it out of the ground. Do you have any advice for someone interested in raising goats? You can't always prevent emergencies that may happen with your goats, so it's a good idea to ensure you have an emergency vet lined up. Not all vets care for goats.