Swan Valley Cuddly Animal Farm – Perth (March 2014)

After exposing the kids to the Swan Valley Caversham Wildlife Park on Day 1 and the Lansdale Farm school two days ago, I was starting to wonder if another day spent with animals would be wise at all. Wouldn’t the kids be extremely bored of animals by now? Was it going to be worth the drive? I’m pretty sure a lot of people would probably have decided to give it a pass if they were in our position but we decided to go ahead with it.

It was a really really hot day and I was getting alittle irritable with the weather and the potential of it being a disappointing day for the kids. But I can’t tell you how wrong I was.

The Swan Valley Cuddly Animal Farm may not look as polished as some of the other parks. In fact I have heard people describing it as run-down and dirty and therefore discouraging others to visit it on their trip. But honestly, it’s a farm! I don’t expect the farm to be in tip-top spanky clean condition, after all animals live there!

What I liked and enjoyed about the place was really the fact that it stayed ‘true to its roots’ as a farm while still managing to accommodate the little children and make things a little fun and interactive for them. What amazed me about the place was the young girls who were working there and dealing with the animals! It was pure hard back-breaking work but these teenagers didn’t seem to mind it one bit. They took their work very seriously and were not concerned about how hot it was or how dirty/ smelly things were. Definitely something a lot of teenagers could learn from.

The entry cost to the farm included interaction with animals, free tractor rides around the farm, free food to feed the animals and free bottle feeding to name a few.

We were fortunate that the tractor ride was just about to start when we got there and so we all hoped on for a jolly good dusty ride. Yes it will get a little dusty since you are seated pretty low and especially if you choose a spot closer to the driver. But Jah and Bella really didn’t seem to mind! In fact I have a video of Jah repeatedly calling out for me and pointing out this and that along the way. And yes we did have to go a few times until I convinced him that we should go feed the animals.

When I say feed, I don’t just mean your usual animal feeding session of carrots and bread and what nots. Yes they have that too – a little shed with the rabbits and guinea pigs that you get to put on your lap or sit amongst and feed. That, by the way was a really fun way to introduce a little animal to a 2 year old since most of the ‘farms’ in Singapore will only allow you to feed through a cage.

Can we bring the rabbit home? 🙂

But yes back to the ‘unusual’ feeding, we got to bottle feed baby goats!

Little chairs were all lined up in a row and we were asked to pick a spot then handed a big bottle of cold milk! Then one of the young girl/farmer would explain how we should feed the baby goat and what to expect as well as how to end the session. Once we were all ready, they carried the baby goats from behind the fenced up area, one by one. Oh, the baby goats were not small at all! They were quite heavy so I was very impressed! The baby goats were also pretty aggressive and some very greedy and insistent when it came to their milk but it was very good fun and mighty hilarious. We did it a couple of times in fact I suspect the adults had more fun than the kids.