Texas couple's 2 rescued goats grew into 95-acre sanctuary for 250+ animals

The goat in Chris Fuller-Wigg’s arms doesn’t look like the start of anything big. Cookie is a LaMancha, the breed with tiny, tucked-in ears, and in a 2024 photograph taken at Austin Farm Sanctuary in Paige, Texas, she leans into him the way a family dog might. Chris holds her gently, his face close to hers.Cookie is where it all began.Back in 2016, she was a dairy goat whose working life had come to an abrupt end. She had been injured while giving birth, and her daughter, Bertha, was born undersized. On a dairy farm, both of those things matter. An injured mother and a small kid aren’t profitable, and animals that aren’t profitable rarely stay.“They were no longer of use to the goat dairy,” Chris told Tribeza. On most farms, he explained, that usually means only one thing. This time it didn’t.