Goat cuddling sessions canceled at Pa. vegan festivals after backlash

A Pennsylvania farm has become the black sheep in animal activism circles.

The owners of the Steinmetz Family Farm — an events-based animal farm in Berks County that hosts petting zoos and goat yoga — were used to their social media posts featuring furry friends going viral online with thousands of Facebook followers and millions of TikTok views.

But for the first time in the recollection of Justin Steinmetz and his wife, Lauren, the business’ Facebook profile was getting inundated with criticism. It stemmed from two goat yoga and goat cuddling sessions the farm had booked at coming plant-based festivals in Pennsylvania.

“I didn’t even see all the comments until I started keyword searching for things like exploitation,” Steinmetz said in a Tuesday phone interview. “I was trying to delete comments. We’re not all about the stuff they [critics] were saying. We’re about the zen of goat snuggling.”

The farm has about 65 baby goats and started regularly hosting goat cuddle sessions with a rotating roster last year, including two scheduled for April: the inaugural Bear Creek Mountain Resort Vegan Festival in Lehigh Valley and the VegFest in Allentown. But once promoters began advertising the events, things went downhill fast. Animal activists called out the Steinmetzes’ business model — they said making money off petting zoos and similar practices were exploitive toward the animals.

For years, the ethics of animal encounters have caused scrutiny among animal lovers.

Sheryl Petrillo, president of the Animal Defenders chapter of Greater Lehigh Valley, says her group thinks that a vendor at vegan festivals charging money to interact with live animals is hypocritical.

“We are ethical vegans, meaning our lifestyle and choices go well beyond what we eat,” she said. “It is avoiding the consumption of animals used for food, clothing, entertainment, etc. ... We do not support petting zoos, traveling circuses and animal exhibits, like SeaWorlds, etc. If we want to learn about animals or interact with them, we go to and support sanctuaries, not farms or petting zoos.”

In an email reviewed by The Inquirer, Terrill Hiel, vice president of Greater Lehigh Valley’s Animal Defenders and a volunteer with the New Jersey sanctuary Goats of Anarchy, told the Allentown VegFest organizers about Bob and Butters, two former baby “rental goats” she rescued in 2020, and urged them to call off the goat cuddling.

Bob was so malnourished he needed a blood transfusion, she wrote. He died after two years at the sanctuary, succumbing to internal damage caused in his youth. Butters is “thriving” but remains skittish around “children, loud noises, and strange people.”

Hiel went on to say that while baby goat cuddling may seem innocent, she has seen dozens of goats suffer from stress during their time touring. She also warned about how male goats get discarded once they grow up.

Steinmetz said his farm treats its animals, including chickens, cows, peacocks, and goats, well. The goats have names, collars, and tags. The farm — which started as a passion project last year when the couple bought an old farmhouse with lots of surrounding land — is expanding to host more events, and building a new barn enclosure.

“We didn’t anticipate all these animals, but fell in love with them,” he said. Steinmetz quit his job and focused on the farm full-time beginning last year. He says events like their festival appearances would have helped fund the barn. The amount brought in at these events varies, Steinmetz said. But the farm usually charges people $5 per unlimited cuddling session. “The reason we’re raising money is to build the barn and have a proper environment for them.”

Steinmetz said the goats go to new homes once they’re about six or seven months old, and are not taken to auction or slaughter.

“They’ve gone to people who have snuggled and fallen in love with them, who have homesteads or farms of their own,” he said. “We’ve vetted the homes of the goats we’ve gotten rid of. Once we find them a good home, we link to them on our Facebook page — like for Eight Ball, Scratch, and Marshmallow, who are all at another farm together.”

Once the backlash surrounding the Steinmetz farm’s festival appearances made its mark on social media, an organizer for Bear Creek Mountain Resort’s event told them they would need to cancel. Steinmetz later called VegFest to do the same.

“I know I’m not gonna change their [critics’] minds,” Steinmetz said. “Let them believe what they do, and we’ll believe what we do. Maybe the vegans will respect my decision to leave this event and leave us alone.”

Bear Creek Mountain Resort and Allentown VegFest organizers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. As for what’s next, Steinmetz said the business will think twice about where it will offer goat cuddling.

“Fairs and festivals are one thing. I just don’t think vegan events are in our future,” he said.