Meet Scout Raskin

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Scout Raskin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Scout, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

Like most transplants in LA, I created a life here on the dreams of working in entertainment. Arriving in 2006, landing in a rented room in Burbank, with no contacts and no job, I built a life in entertainment. First as an actor – until the 2008 Writer’s strike took me behind the camera. I spent 5 years as an Assistant Production Accountant, eventually finding myself at an independent animation studio, ShadowMachine. I started producing my own animated content for film festivals and the owners of the company gave me a chance to help develop and produce an animated sketch show for Comedy Central. That launched my career as an TV Animation Line Producer, which was very busy for over a decade. I eventually was able to purchase a small ranch property in La Tuna Canyon – an agricultural neighborhood in the Verdugo Mountains near Burbank. Finally, I was able to get a couple of goats and start building the mini farm of my dreams. In 2017, I was about to go on hiatus from Rick & Morty just as my goats were arriving. So I had a crazy idea, what if people want to hang out with my goats? I took it as a sign that PartyGoats.com was available. A few weeks later, I had a website, socials, and a trademark. Things quickly grew and before I knew it, my goats were booking weekends weeks in advance.

Party Goats LA was my side-hustle, while I continued to produced Animated TV. The company’s mission is two-fold: 1) To share the joy of goats with the residents of LA – educating and spreading empathy along the way. 2) As nomadic creatures that travel long distances together, my company provides our goats with a big world. I never felt that it was fair to keep them in an enclosure their whole life. Going on adventure and exploring their world is truly in their nature.

In the summer of 2023, my career in animation ended abruptly as the entertainment industry faltered here in LA. After taking a few months to decompress, I felt lost. Unsure how to build a life for myself when the career I built disappeared unexpectedly. The grief of that experience is still with me daily as it is with so many entertainment professionals as we wait for the work to come back. If it ever will.

Knowing that I love LA and life here, I decided I needed to figure out how to pivot. I didn’t want to sit around feeling that my future was out of my control. I wanted to use the time, to figure out my next steps. So I decided to meditate for a few hours and connect with my higher self or the universe or whatever and see what presented itself. The message I received was FOLLOW THE GOATS.

In my gut, I knew it was the right call. For years I had been receiving calls for brush clearance and wildfire prevention. I used to tell those who inquired: I don’t have the right kind of goats, I don’t have enough goats, and NO ONE DOES IT. (At least small residential lots). So I decided to embark on what has been the most challenging endeavor of my life – raising a herd of grazing goats and sheep for the express purpose of brush clearance and wildfire prevention. What started with research in the fall of 2023 is now coming to fruition as we go into the 2025 season. We’re the only company in LA that will do lots that are 2 acres or less!

It’s been quite the journey. Starting in early 2024, I went from 4 goats to 25 goats and 4 sheep. I partnered with an Alpine breeder in Orange County and told her I would take all of her unwanted baby boys in 2024. Out of 14 females, I adopted 18 boys. Every two weeks, I was bringing home more baby goats – sometimes 2, other times as many as 8. I bottled fed them all – 2 feedings twice a day, neutered them myself, and provided basic vet care like vaccines and treatment for any illnesses that came up. I was going to Costco every 3 days at the peak and packing my extra fridge with 90 gallons of milk/week. All the while, training them for TV/Film, events, hiking, and brush clearance. Raising a herd in this way was a physical, mental, and emotional challenge like I’ve ever experienced. Somehow, I pulled the energy to keep going and now I have an amazing herd of sweet, smart, and kind individuals who see me as their Herd Queen and their Goat Mom. As someone who never wanted to raise human children, GOATS ARE MY PEOPLE.

I can’t even begin to explain how much I’ve learned from them. They are amazing teachers. Some of the most useful, empathic, and intelligent creatures on the planet. They are often overlooked or subject to ridiculous negative assumptions in pop culture. Because goats were the 2nd animal domesticated after dogs – about 10,000 years ago, I believe that no matter where your ancestors are from, relationships with animals like goats are built into our DNA, just as we built their DNA to want to connect with us. If you look at the timeline of humanity, it’s only a short period of time in our modern lives that most people HAVEN’T had these types of animals as part of their daily life. Being around them, developing deep emotional relationships with them creates a connection that activates a deep part of ourselves that we don’t get to access that often. That’s why I believe people are so attracted to goats and have a deep love for them. Trust me, that love is mutual. I have a unique, special, bond with every single one in my herd. It’s a relationship about mutual respect, trust, and understanding. A connection that goes deeper than my connection with my other domesticated animals – like my cats and dogs. Goats are my obsession and they are quite literally keeping me alive here in Los Angeles. I’m so grateful to them for how much they enrich my life. That I have the amazing experience of caring for them daily. That I’m outside under the sky every day, no matter the weather, seeing the seasons change by the plant and animal life rather than the calendar. Mostly that when you’re around goats, you have to present in the moment. You’re not locked into your phone or your computer. You’re using your body, rather than sitting stagnant in a chair inside a box inside a bigger box. You’re truly interfacing with nature and the planet. That is the biggest gift of all – and living “farm life” is truly something that makes us human.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

Party Goats LA is your one-stop shop for everything goat and sheep related in LA. You can send a surprise goat with our Goat Gram, have a Goat Yoga Class, add goats/sheep to your next project, experience what it’s like to be a shepherd on our Goat Hikes, or enjoy a pick-me-up with our Goat Therapy programs. If you’ve got an overgrown yard or property, our herd can take it down and enrich your soil in the process for the most eco-friendly, peaceful, and carbon-neutral brush clearance progress out there.

Some of our most special work is with the autistic community and our retirees. What’s so special about goats is that they meet you where you are. They don’t ask much (maybe a pet or two) and some snacks, but they match your energy in a way that other “service” animals don’t. They are filled with joy, compassion, and empathy.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

1) Perseverance – remember that success is never a straight-line. There will be setbacks, but those setbacks are valuable learning experiences.

2) Come From a Place of Authenticity – If you are trying to achieve something for money, fame, or clout, that’s not authentic. Those things may come, but it’s only if you are true to yourself. Others will see that passion and be attracted to it. The rest will follow.

3) Trust Your Gut – So many people put up roadblocks in their own way. Embarking on something challenging is oftentimes a feeling more than a plan.

4) Take Risks – know that some risks won’t pan out, but taking risks is part of the process. Overcome your doubt and your fear. Give it your all, so you don’t have regret.

How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?

I think about how much time I have left a lot. Our world is changing rapidly and without a family to leave a legacy to, I think a lot about how I want to spend my time here. Truly working with goats and having them tangibly change someone’s day or life in the process is a life of service. It’s service to the goats, but service to the community and our individual clients. While I would like the next decade to have a better work-life balance and more financial stability, I know that I want to spend as much time as possible with my goats. My mission to share with the world how incredible they are and how incredible our planet is and the beings that inhabit it. So I want to continue that as long as I can. It’s truly my life’s work.

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Image Credits

Animal portraits by Joe Rubinstein

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