Flying Cow Ranch (Taiwan)

The highlight of our trip was our visit at Flying Cow Ranch. Here, Luke was able to milk a cow, run with ducklings and feed baby animals. It was also here where I was feasted on by insects. Ack!

Was the visit worth all the scratching? Find out all about our experience and I’ll let you decide for yourself in the end! 😉

What and Where is Flying Cow Ranch?

Flying Cow Ranch is a leisure farm in Miaoli, Taiwan. The farm offers a variety of interactive experiences for the guests.

There’s a hotel and a couple of restaurants within the property as well if you plan on staying longer.

Getting to Flying Cow Ranch

The official website of Flying Cow Ranch provides a very detailed description of how to get there. You can view it here.

We decided to take the HSR from Taipei to Miaoli (kids are free if you don’t book them seats.) Then we took a taxi from the station to Flying Cow Ranch.

We liked our driver and he asked if we wanted him to bring us back as well. He said he would come back for us and so we did that. We agreed on a time to meet but we also got his contact details. He said we can call him at least 40 minutes before if we wanted to leave earlier.

Grazing Area

The first thing you need to know about Flying Cow Ranch: it is HUGE. And the different points of interest are spaced widely apart. That means, if you get lost, you’ll have to walk far. That’s what happened to us.

The 3 main attractions (cow milking, calf feeding and duckling march) all happen at the same area, at “Mama Cow’s House”. We were trying to make it there by 11am for the cow milking activity but we got lost and ended up at the Grazing Area instead.

(I was told there was a tram that goes around the farm but that it’s only available on weekends.)

The Grazing Area is exactly what its name implies; basically, this is where the cows chill. It was a beautiful place and Luke was content for a long time, just looking at the cows from behind the fence.

PS. Please don’t go inside the fence. Obviously, the fence is there for a reason. It’s dangerous for both you and the cows. When we were there, a man jumped over inside for his “perfect selfie” and I’m sorry but that is just… *sigh*… anyway.

As I said, the place was really nice. Wide open space, very quiet and relaxing. Normally, I’d let Luke stay for as long as he’d like so he can soak up on the moment. But it was hot, we were (or should I say, I was haha) extremely uncomfortable and we were still hoping to catch the 11am cow milking session so, oops. Sorry, Luke. We gotta go, we gotta go!

On hindsight, I should’ve just let him stay here for a few more minutes because…

Finding the Wrong Barn

… we ended up going to the wrong area, again. We thought the “BARN” on the map meant “Mama Cow’s House” but apparently, they have a different barn.

This barn isn’t really part of the attraction. This is where they take care of the other animals that are not part of the show.

Thankfully, there were caretakers there who told us we were at the wrong place. They felt so bad seeing our sweaty foreheads and tired faces that they gave us a few blades of grass to feed the cows with. 😀

The staff said they don’t normally do this though so, don’t expect this activity when you visit! Also, I wouldn’t recommend you to go looking for this barn anyway because it’s an uphill climb to get to this area and there’s nothing to do. Don’t waste your time.

Restaurant

Since the next round of activities were scheduled to start at 1:45pm, we decided to just have lunch. There’s a restaurant inside the property. And because we were here on a Monday, it wasn’t crowded at all.

The entrance tickets included a coupon for either fresh milk or a choco malt drink. Luke and I both had the choco malt and it was good!

We also had a cheeseburger and rice burger. Nothing to worry if you have a picky eater because they have kid-friendly meals available.

Goats, Goats!

We finished lunch early and had time to do a little exploring before the 1:45pm show. A short walk from Mama Cow’s House is this goat area.

Luke enjoyed feeding the goats with the blades of grass that were just scattered on the floor.

Duckling March

Finally, 1:45pm came and we were eager to see the ducks! Cutest entrance ever.

Everyone was given a handful of feeds to feed the ducks with.

All the explanations were done in Mandarin so if you don’t speak the language, just enjoy the experience. 😀 I could only understand a bit (a shame considering I graduated with a minor in Chinese studies hahaha!) so I just enjoyed the activities.

Luke had such a serious face on the entire time. As though he was observing very intently what the ducks were doing.

One of my favorite things about this farm is how they have hand washing stations! They require everyone to wash before and after each activity.

In relation to washing of hands, you might notice Luke changing back and forth from his olive green shirt to his white shirt. This is because he always gets himself wet after washing. And because I only had 1 extra shirt with me, we changed him back and forth to whichever was drier. Haha.

Milking Mama Cow

Finally the activity we were all waiting for: Luke got to milk a cow!

There were two cows available for milking. Everybody was asked to line up and wait for their turn. Luke tried to pinch it at the start and nothing came out. When he finally squeezed it hard, milk squirted and he squealed! Haha. Definitely a memorable experience for us.

Feeding Baby Calves

After milking mama cow, it was time to help feed the baby calves! They drink from a bottle. We were asked to grip the bottles near the nipples of the bottle but huhu I didn’t want the cows to lick me I’m sorry!! So I held the bottle instead. Hehe.

After all that, everyone was already pretty exhausted. I blame it on the heat. AND MY AWFUL INSECT BITES (more on that later!)

Bunny House

But Luke wouldn’t leave without feeding the bunnies. So we dropped by the Bunny House. It’s not far from Mama Cow’s House.

They were selling the feeds (not expensive) and it was by honesty system. There was no one at the Bunny House so you just leave your payment on the coin box.

There was an indoor and outdoor area that the bunnies can roam around in and Luke had fun going out and coming back in to feed the different bunnies.

Tractors and Things!

And on the way out, while waiting for our ride, Luke went up to try the different tractors and vehicles on display.

If you have a kid who’s into this sort of thing, you’ll be glad to know they have a couple of them up at the farm.

IMPORTANT: BEWARE OF INSECTS!

Okay so I saved this for last because I want to be fair: Flying Cow Ranch is a great farm to visit. There are so many activities and everything was clean, nice and wonderful. BUT.

One MAJOR con of this place is how it is populated by these crazy insects, locally known as the “Black Dot Mosquito” or “Little King Kong!”

Very unassuming, these insects feasted on my limbs. I am not exaggerating. I had a minimum of 10 bites on each arm and on each leg!

My friend Kim and I got bitten a LOT but surprisingly, Luke and my brother had ZERO bites. We tried to figure out what they did that was so different but until now, the only difference we can think of is that they were both boys and we were both girls. Haha!

I’m not convinced that’s the reason though. (NOTE: We all used anti-mosquito lotions!)

Sharing a photo of how my legs looked like the day after and 2 days after. Here are some things to note about the insects and the bites:

• Start out as very itchy bumps (like regular mosquito bites) but they grow bigger and bigger.
• They eventually puff up, hurt and turn darker.
• I was told that the bites are not serious/life-threatening (I got paranoid for a while)
• Even after you heal, the marks could still stay for weeks. It’s been a month since our trip and there are still dark circles on my legs (they now look like bruises) and I’m still hoping they’ll fade soon.
• I was also told that if you go during the colder months, the insects appear less (if at all)

Remedy for the Bites

The bites were so bad that we called guest services at the hotel (we stayed at The Shangri-La Far Eastern Plaza; service was amazing,) and they gave us this ointment. I liked it so much that I bought an extra tube to bring home.

Also, I had a pack of SuuBalm Anti-Itch cream with me and I used that as well. The menthol really helped with the itch.

They healed eventually by God’s grace. But it’s because of this that I do not have plans of going back here. Even if it’s to bring Mor and Dylan. Haha!

I mean, it was a good experience and I’d still recommend it to people (maybe during the cooler months where there aren’t a lot of insects) But for me, we’ll probably just try a different farm next time… the experience traumatized me quite a bit.

Tips When Visiting:

• May sound irconic but cover up if you’re going during warmer months because of the insects.
• Or better yet, visit during cooler months. Lesser/no insects and you won’t be as tired.
• Check out the schedule of the activities: Visit their website to see the time slots to make sure you don’t miss any of the animal encounters.
• Go on weekends if you want a tram. Go on weekdays if you want less people.

For more info about Flying Cow Ranch, you may visit their website here.

—

CHECK OUT MORE ARTICLES ABOUT TAIWAN HERE

(NOTE: THIS POST IS ABOUT OUR EXPERIENCE LAST APRIL 2019.)