He’s a normal sight in the neighborhood, driving his goats up and down country roads near Welling, Alta.
But Dan Charlebois’ goats aren’t in his vehicle — they are his vehicle — and they’re his companions.
“I’ll sit there, drinking a pop or something, and the goats will come and they want to lay right beside me and touch me and lay there,” he said.
“Yeah they’re just like a dog in a lot of ways.”
He harnesses his goats daily and enjoys a scenic drive through the country.
The veteran horse trainer and farrier says because the goats are so smart, they only take about a month to cart-train.
“They know ‘haw, gee and whoa,’ like a horse,” he said.
“But they’re a lot easier to handle than a horse. They don’t kick and stuff like that.”
Charlabois has been training goats to pull carts for almost two decades, so he knows when a goat is old enough to pull.
“I usually want to start them when they’re two or three,” he said.
The goats are able to pull up to one-and-a-half times their body weight, and Charlabois said more than eight kilometers of pulling wouldn’t be too much to ask.
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Charlabois said he’s attached to his goats, and the feeling is mutual.
“They come when I call them… they know their names.”
He’s so fond of them, he wants to share the cart culture across southern Alberta.
He’s already started a business training and selling goats and plans to start building carts to sell as well.
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