Many BSM students drive home at the end of the day, walk inside, eat a snack, and maybe walk their dog or play with their cat, but some students come home and ride their horse, feed their chicken, or play with their pet monkey.

BSM is home to about 1,150 students and the majority of those students have pets, some of which are not very common. But some BSM students have unique pets that go far beyond the usual dog or cat.

Junior Matthew Nachbor owns two pets, one of which is a dog named J.J. and the other of which is a goat named Jerry. Nachbor bought the goat freshman year so that he could ask someone to homecoming, but after homecoming, he wanted to keep the newly loved pet. When he asked his parents, they surprisingly said that if he kept him fed and took care of him they could keep Jerry. Ever since then, Nachbor’s mom has regretted the decision, but the rest of the family (including their dog) loves having the goat around. “I love having pets! Jerry and J.J. are just so cute to look at, but they both smell bad,” Nachbor said.

Senior Emily Platt is the proud owner of three chickens, which her mom bought for her family during Platt’s eighth-grade year. Platt has enjoyed their company ever since, but they do require work. These chickens have given Platt the task of walking to their coop, feeding them when they’re hungry, and giving them water when they are thirsty. The chickens do more than serve as cool pets though. The chickens supply eggs year round, and for Platt and her family that’s a good enough reason to keep them around. “I definitely like having chickens; they are pretty fun, and the best thing is when they come running. It’s the funniest thing,” Platt said.

Junior Mason McHugh has a little more than three chickens or a goat at his hobby farm in Corcoran. McHugh is the owner of seven chickens, three horses, one goose, one dog, one cat, two fish, and a snail, which adds up to 16 pets, and McHugh is ironically allergic to most of them. Similar to Platt, McHugh’s mom is also the reason for the family owning all of these animals, and according to McHugh, his entire family is happy they own them. “We mostly just have the pets for enjoyment and not really for any use,” McHugh said.

McHugh enjoys having 16 different pets, but the work that comes along with this herd is not so enjoyable. McHugh’s entire family has to help out, but that still leaves McHugh doing a lot of the work. After waking up in the morning, McHugh has to open the barn and let the horses out, which is a bigger task then it sounds. After letting them out, McHugh has to clean out their stalls, feed them, and then come back later that day to put them back. And that’s just the horses. “They are a lot of work, but I’d say all 16 of them are worth it,” McHugh said.