GOLDEN RIDGE ANIMAL FARM
Reporters: SHAE BREWSTER, SALLY STANTON & JACK YABSLEY
A lotta kids and lotta of farm animals – sounds like a lotta fun!
Golden Ridge Animal Farm is only about 40mins from the city. It is run by father and daughter duo, Alisa Nye and Farmer John. They have owned and operated Golden Ridge for more than 21 years.
The idea is to get kids close to the animals so they get a memorable experience as well as learning something about the animals.
Most of the animals have been hand raised on the farm and you can expect to see everything from pet mice & rats to the big old bull.
The children never forget the goats on the roof or the bumpy wagon ride. These are just a few things that people come back for, time and time again. If it is a school group of children, a birthday party, a play group, pre school, a nursing home, a child care centre or just the family, we provide all hands-on activities so you and the children get as much as possible out of your day on the farm.
By lunch time you will be hungry so there are two picnic areas you can have your lunch at, and gas BBQ's as well. There are no food outlets on the farm but there is free tea and coffee.
Golden Ridge Animal Farm gives kids the opportunity for gentle hands on with, depending upon the animal chosen, guinea pigs, rabbits, ducklings watch eggs hatch or just observe baby chicks or ducklings.
Farmer John and the staff at Golden Ridge over the years have developed an educational program that is both fun and interesting for the children. It teaches them about farm life, farm animals and how they help us.
The farm is open to the public, play groups and birthday parties.
A normal day visiting the farm includes:
On arrival Farmer John will then take everyone into the barn and give a talk involving,
- Farm rules
- The farm dogs (7 of them)
- How to hold, what they eat and the proper names of:
- Hen and rooster
- Chicks
- Ducklings
- Rabbits
They then sit the children in circles and everyone gets to hold each animal.
A walk around the farm to see and talk about all the big animals and feed the sheep and goats with bread. See the horses, cows, ponies, alpacas, ducks, geese, calves and all the children’s favourite, the big old bull.
The walk will finish in the dairy where they talk about the cow, what we get from milk and why the cow has milk.
After lunch we do the bottle feeding of the baby lambs and goats.
Last of all is the bumpy wagon ride.
Then take the children back into the barn for a final discussion and they can ask any questions they have about the farm.
Catered birthday parties
If you want to hold a birthday party, then that means you can have lunch and a lolly hunt included. So after the program everyone washes their hands then head to the picnic tables where the lunch is set out. It includes:
- Large fruit platter, 8 or 9 fruits {fruits depend on the season}
- Savoury platter -3 different flavoured biscuits
- Tasty cheese
- Cabanossi
- Celery
- Cherry tomatoes
- French onion dip
- Sliced ham
- Sliced chicken
- A sausage-sizzle with bread, onions and tomato sauce.
- Tea and coffee for the adults and cordial for the children.
They also throw in a free lolly hunt for the children. The kids collect all the lollies then at the end of the hunt they hand them out so that all children will get the same amount of lollies.
More Information
Golden Ridge Animal Farm
686 Old Northern Road (enter from Wyoming Rd)
Dural
Telephone: (02) 9651 1028
www.goldenridgeanimalfarm.com.au
Open every day, bookings essential
$12.10 for adults and $8.40 for the kids.
Prices correct as at 05/05/07