Three pet goats are at the center of a conflict between Loudoun’s suburbanization and its farm heritage, as The Washington Post’s Loudoun Extra reports in an excellent article. A family moved to Hamilton to enjoy the rural countryside, bought some goats, and soon learned they had violated a county zoning rule requiring at least a five-acre lot to raise or breed livestock:

Francis’s effort to keep the goats has sparked a larger debate about preserving the rural character of a rapidly growing county. About 700 people have signed a petition supporting her, and several of them told Loudoun County supervisors at a hearing Monday that the zoning rule undermines Loudoun’s farming traditions.

Image Via Washington Post