Time’s Ticking For The Icelandic Goat

Goat farmer Jóhanna Bergmann Þorvaldsdóttir has launched a new IndieGoGo campaign to save her family farm, Háafell (also known as the Icelandic Goat Conservation Center), from auction next month, and all of its 400 goats from slaughter.

“The family is facing foreclosure in September,” reads the IndieGoGo page.

This will result in the entire goat flock being butchered unless  10 million Icelandic krona, which equals about $90,000 USD, is raised to save the farm.

This will allow the family to remain on their farm, keep the goats safe and healthy, and begin the journey of creating a sustainable farm by developing products such as cheese, cashmere, and meat that will provide a viable income.

Since 2000, Jóhanna and her family have dedicated their farm to the preservation and growth of Iceland’s unique native goat species. From a low point of about 90 goats in all of Iceland, the population has now grown to 820, nearly half of which live at Háafell.

Grapevine readers may remember Jóhanna and her goats from a 2012 Karolina Fund kickstarter campaign aimed at raising funds to both maintain the farm and expand their facilities. More recently, Casanova, one of Háafell’s particularly photogenic goats, had a guest role (as dragon-bait) on HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones.’

The “Save the Icelandic Goat from Extinction” fundraiser will end on September 14, 2014. Those interested in other ways of helping can also share the campaign on Twitter using the #SaveTheGoats hashtag. The Háafell website also invites people to foster a goat or arrange to visit and tour the farm for a small fee.