KILLINGTON—Police have yet to find two baby goats that were stolen from Hinterland Organic Farm in Killington overnight Sunday, July 7.
The two 7-month-old miniature billy goats were tethered to a 150-pound weight, which was also stolen, said Killington Police Chief Whit Montgomery.
“We don’t have much to go on at this point,” Montgomery said.
Hinterland owners Boris and Sheila Pilsmaker purchased the goats about a month ago from One Chicken At a Time Farm owner Tina Tuckerman in South Woodstock to control weeds and poison ivy.
“It was a nice set up that we had them on,” Boris said. “It was working perfectly.”
The goats were kept along the driveway, near a farmstand the public drives in and out of seven days a week.
Pilsmaker’s son Ben first noticed the goats were missing around 7 a.m. on Monday, July 8.
“I was shocked,” Ben said. “I saw the stakes were pulled out of the ground.”
There were no fresh tire marks, Ben said, but he noticed fresh cow manure in the driveway, which didn’t belong to any of his livestock.
“That was bizarre,” Ben said. “That was the first thing I noticed.”
The goats are worth about $50 each and the equipment is worth about $100.
“It’s more the fact that someone did it than the money value,” Ben said. “That thought didn’t even occur to me that someone would grab them.”
The Pilsmakers are well-known in the community. They’ve owned Mountain Creamery in Woodstock since 1987. They started Hinterland Organic Farm in 1998. The farm is a family-run operation where the Pilsmakeres raise and sell turkeys, pork, beef, eggs and vegetables at their farmstand, which is open every day from June to October.
Ben said people steal meat and vegetables from their farm every summer, but they’ve never had livestock stolen.
“We’re sad,” said Ben at his farm one afternoon, where he was covered in mud from gardening.
Boris is remaining hopeful despite the theft.
“I have faith in humanity,” Boris said. “I’m just going to put more cameras in.”
Tuckerman, the farmer the PiIlsmakers bought the goats from, has already offered to give them two more goats, but Boris is hoping they won’t need them.
“I’m hoping with this publicity that they’ll get returned to us,” Boris said. “I don’t care who did it, I’m just hoping to have the goats back.”
