Forget the Matterhorn.

The Amish Farm and House in East Lampeter Township has got the Goaterhorn.

And Mount Goaterest. And Madagoatscar. And the Golden Goat Bridge.

Thanks to the handiwork of Chris Lubkemann, the resident wood carver at the popular tourist attraction at 2395 Lincoln Highway East, the 12 resident baby pygmy goats and their five mothers spend their days climbing up tall ramps, crossing bridges and no doubt looking for trolls to outwit.

Lubkemann built his elaborate contraption, complete with a double suspension bridge, out of recycled materials, including about 40 giant cable spools.

"I live on Old Philadelphia Pike and when I drive to the farm, I go by Lapp Electrical on Witmer Road," Lubkemann explains. "They put the used spools out on the side of the road. Over the past four or five years, if they were in decent shape, I'd throw them in the truck."

Knowing that pygmy goats love to climb, he began building.

"I put a few ramps up to see what they would do and they went nuts with it," Lubkemann says. "So I kept adding ramps and bridges and different levels. And I used scrap lumber, so just about everything is recycled."

He began naming different parts of it and even painted the Golden Goat bridge the same colors as its non-goat counterpart in San Francisco. He painted the top of Mount Goaterest (the tallest ramp, of course) white, and named all the mountain climbers.

And those mountain climbers grew with the project.

This spring, there was a population explosion of pygmy goats at the farm, thanks to Buster, a billy goat who likes the ladies. He kept escaping from his enclosure and visiting the nanny goats at night.

"He was a great jumper," Lubkemann recalls with a chuckle.

(Buster has left the premises. Lubkemann says he was a lawsuit waiting to happen, since he enjoyed nudging visitors with his horns.)

The babies can stand up and walk within 10 or 15 minutes of being born, and Lubkemann says by the end of their first day, they could walk up the ramps.

"I've never seen anything more coordinated than baby pygmy goats," he says.

Very friendly and nonaggressive, and cute as the dickens, the pygmy goats are one of the most popular attractions at the farm.

"It's better than Barnum and Bailey," Lubkemann says.


Staff writer Jane Holahan can be reached at jholahan@LNPnews.com or 481-6016.