The Belmont Goats
4.8(179)google
Wildlife WatchingKidsOutdoorFreeQuirkyWildlife
Overview
The Belmont Goats are a beloved, uniquely eccentric resident herd of urban dairy goats that serve as a whimsical, grassroots community fixture within the city of Portland. Functioning as a non-profit urban agricultural project, this quirky resident collective welcomes locals and travelers to enter their grassy pasture to pet, feed, and interact with the playful farm animals. It offers a lighthearted, deeply endearing, and community-oriented escape that beautifully captures Portland's signature 'Keep Portland Weird' civic ethos, blending rural agriculture seamlessly with modern urban green spaces.
Practical Info
Suggested Duration30-60 minutes
Best TimeBest visited during clear weekend afternoon public hours from May to August. Since this urban goat herd is volunteer-run, visiting on a pleasant sunny day ensures the best experience to see the goats playing and interact with them during open-gate hours.
Getting ThereCurrently situated in the University Park area of North Portland. Take Bus Line 4 or Line 35 to the nearby stops, followed by a short walk to the field. Located in a residential pocket, there is plenty of easy street parking available.
Travel Tips
- This non-profit community goat herd has relocated multiple times and is no longer on Belmont Street; they are currently situated at N Syracuse St & N Carleton Ave. Do not follow legacy blogs.
- To protect the goats' delicate digestive tracts, bringing outside food, vegetables, or bread for feeding is strictly illegal; only official hay provided by on-site volunteers during open hours is permitted.
- Operated fully by volunteers, public gate access is free but limited to specific weekend hours; outside these hours, the herd is secured behind double-fenced paddocks, allowing only distant viewing with zero interaction.
Reviews
Positive
- Getting up close with a herd of gentle, adorable goats in a heartwarming urban pocket offers pure therapeutic novelty, perfectly capturing Portland's community-driven core values.
- The hands-on experience is wonderfully authentic and rustic, allowing visitors to pet and feed the herd. Enthusiastic volunteers patiently guide children on how to interact gently with the animals.
- Operating as a purely volunteer-run, non-profit community project, entry is entirely free (donations welcomed). The grassroots hospitality and social value are flawless and unpretentious.
- While nestled in a quieter neighborhood, the new location offers solid transit accessibility via local bus routes. The flat grassy enclosure and clean waste bins keep the basic upkeep respectable.
Heads up
- Being a micro community project, the actual physical footprint is tiny, consisting essentially of just a single fenced pasture. A casual visit takes under 10 minutes, making the scale quite small.
- The operating hours are highly restricted and erratic, relying strictly on volunteer shifts and opening only a few hours a week, presenting a major scheduling hurdle for international travelers.
- During its brief sunny weekend slots, crowd density spikes sharply inside the narrow dirt walkways. Lacking formal security or structured crowd control, it can feel overly noisy and frantic.
- Being a raw dirt pasture, restroom upkeep relies on basic portable toilets, and the paths become incredibly muddy and slippery during rainy months, ruining ADA wheelchair accessibility.