Yi Nong Farm near Luodong

A short drive from Luodong is the Yi Nong farm, or 宜農牧場, a family friendly place to let your kids get up close and personal with some very cuddly farm animals. There is also a cafe and a little store on the grounds, as well as tables to enjoy a little rest during your trip through Yilan. If you've never been to a milk farm or fed animals it's a great visit, and it's good people watching with all the kids being cute and crazy around the animals.

A taste of cold, hard steel.

The farm can get busy on the weekend and holidays, especially the Chinese New Year, so don't be surprised if there is a bit of a crowd. There is free parking on site for cars and scooters, and it's close enough you can use pedal power to arrive too. The animals have been conditioned by all the visitation so they are as safe and tame as nature allows, but they're not shy in asking for food.

Cute beggars.

Adult visitors should pay 30NT to visit the farm, and payment is taken using the honor system. Just throw your money into the milk pail at the entrance and head on in. It's not totally uncommon to see people just walk in without paying, but it's not a ton of cash to put up to enjoy their private farm.

Milk pot for your cash.

You can feed the goats with greens that you buy by the bushel for 10NT. The goats will happily snap the leafy ends out of your hands and there are enough mouths to feed that someone is always hungry. Don't be shy about getting close, but mind your fingers if you're holding something small. Worth the small fee to have the experience of hand feeding farm animals if you've never done it before.

Fun for the whole family!

Dinner time.

Baby goats and the baby pigs can be given milk for 30NT a bottle, complete with rubber nipple. Make sure you - or your child – has a good hold on the bottle before you get close to the pens. Despite being so small the animals suck pretty hard and they're not afraid to push each other out of the way to get some of that nice fresh milk. If you're not ready for it they could pull the bottle out of your hands, meaning broken glass all over the place.

There is a fish pond and a lot of waterfowl, and yup, you can pay to feed them too. There are a bunch of different species, but be careful of the geese which are beautiful but mean. If you don't feed them first they will bully the other birds and steal everything for themselves. Hissing, flapping, biting, and lots of drama until every last piece is gone. It might sound funny, but the last place you want to be is standing in the middle of a bird fight holding a hand full of food.

Angry, angry geese

This guy kept following us everywhere we went

As a farm which has a lot of lady goats making milk every day means lots of dairy products on hand. Ice cream and yogurt are the big ticket items for visitors who want a “farm fresh” product. Unlike a farm visit back home where you can get super cheap dairy items the stuff here is actually more expensive than what you can find in the supermarket.

In summary, the farm is a good visit, priced right for what it is, and it's not too far out of town. It's a great way to add something fun for your kids, a goofy stop on a day long date, or just to see some cute animals with friends. It's not big, it's not an open range farm, and the animals are kept in moderately crowded pens because it's a milk farm. You're paying to do a bit of the farmer's work for them, but you do get to have a cool experience you can't find a lot of other places in Taiwan.

Find the farm at No 17, Lane 239 Changchun Rd, Dongshan township, Yilan. In Chinese: 冬山鄉柯林村長春路239巷17號