Aug 186 min read

[Yilan Tourist Spot] Best Petting Farm Near Taipei City—Zhang Mei

Best Petting Farm Near Taipei—Zhang Mei Farm: Tickets/Prices

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You can make reservations with Zhang Mei Ama's Farm on weekends or if you are traveling in a group of 15 or above on a weekday. You can also stand in line for tickets at the scene but I recommend booking the ticket online to make sure you have a slot. It also saves you from waiting . I did so and while there were other tourists staying in line for a ticket, a staff member came out of the booth to scan our pre-booked QR code and provided us with the voucher for the feeding grass and snacks.

Ticket prices are NTD$200 (USD$6.21) for regular visitors. Concession tickets are NTD$150 (USD$4.66), available for travelers above the age of 65 or those with a disability certificate. Both types of tickets include a free snack of scallion pancakes, red bean cake, or custard pancakes, and of course, a free serving of gras to feed to the animals. Kids tickets are NTD$50 (USD$1.55) for those from 2–4 years old, babies under 2 enter for free. Free or kids entry does not come with snacks or feeding grass.

Zhang Mei Farm also offers DIY sessions for local Yilan snacks but for this you must book and register with them before hand. Personally, I think the scallion pancakes here aren't good and there are a lot of better options for DIY experiences in Yilan such as the Baby Scallions Experience Farm for making scallion pancakes or the Yilan Pancake Museum for making ox-tongue pastry (does not contain actual tongue!)

Best Petting Farm Near Taipei—Zhang Mei Farm: Overview

There are a lot of farms in Yilan but Zhang Mei Ama's Farm is the best petting farm near Taipei City that I've been to. It is well-maintained, big, and has a huge variety of cute animals. It's a great Yilan tourist spot and definitely one of the best Yilan attractions for kids. My 5-year-old niece loved it.

Best Petting Farm Near Taipei—Zhang Mei Farm: Sloth

Opposite of the farm's entrance is a sloth area, this was the first time I've ever came this close to a sloth, I never knew that sloths act cute for food, too! Most sloths are kept in a caged area but almost the entire barn was fenced up and there aren't too many sloths so they have sufficient space.

At the very inside is an elaborate wooden stand where the sloths take turns coming out to. You can go up to it for photos, there's also a staff member nearby to maintain everyone's safety.

If you want a photo with the sloth, you need to upload it to Facebook and check-in or post and Instagram story with a location tag afterwards. Everyone uses social media nowadays so it's not a big problem, plus, only one person in the group needs to post. I went with my mom, aunt, and niece, I was the only one who posted a story but we took multiple photos alone and together.

To coax the sloth into looking at the camera, the keeper tempted it with a piece of cabbage. It's face was so cute, giving the same expression my dog gives when we make him take photos by waving a treat around. You can also gently pet the sloth, when I stroked it's head it nuzzled against me then went back to sleep.

Best Petting Farm Near Taipei—Zhang Mei Farm: Zones

There are 3 zones in Zhang Mei Ama's farm, you can't return to the previous one once you enter the next zone. There are different animals in each zone. Before entering the farm, each person is given 6 pieces of leaf feed. There are limited grass but they are pretty long, so I strongly suggest that you break them into shorter pieces when feeding the animals; this way, they can last longer; otherwise, the animals would rob you of them all pretty quickly. When you get to zone 3, you'd probably be running out, you can use your sloth post for another serving of feeding grass.

Best Petting Farm Near Taipei—Zhang Mei Farm: Zone 1

Zone 1 contains Valais Blacknose sheep, deer, and alpacas.

The sheep are total burglars, especially the big male sheep which nudge people with their horns to get attention and food. It's really cute but I suggest you keep an eye on your grass. The baby sheep are super cute, like a tiny ball of fur. Even though they can't fight for food as well as the big sheep, everyone saves them some grass.

The deer here are pretty calm, which was surprising to me. When I went to Bambi Land the deer would even steal carrots out of my bag. Maybe cause they know there's no winning against the sheep?

Best Petting Farm Near Taipei—Zhang Mei Farm: Capybara

Zone 2 is a smaller area of capybaras. There are only a few but there are more capybaras in zone 3 so we didn't spend much time here.

Some capybaras were calm and relaxed like the typical image of them but there were a few pretty active ones, which was fun. Previously, when I went to Bambi Land, all the capybaras were sleeping or bathing and would even completely ignore me even if I placed food in front of their noses.

Capybaras are rodents with really strong and big front teeth, so make sure you watch your kids and have them let go of the grass in time.

Best Petting Farm Near Taipei—Zhang Mei Farm: Zone 3

As soon as we entered zone 3, we were greeted by a group of Patagonian maras. We were told that they are closely related to capybaras but I don't see any similarities between them apart from color. They look like a cross between rabbits and wallabies.

When you get here, make sure you use your social media post to get more feeding grass even if you still have enough left. Here, aside from the harsh grass (leaves? Hay when it's still fresh? I don't know. The thing you see in my photos. I don't know plants, can you tell?) they also give out more tender leaves which the reeve's muntjacs and wallabies love. If you give them grass they'll pretty much just ignore you.

When I came here, there was an albino baby wallaby that was only 6 months old. He would take the leaves from you into his hand and munch on them. It's the cutest thing I've seen all year.

The capybaras near the entrance of zone 3 are more energetic. This is the first time I've ever seen such lively capybara. My niece was feeding a tortoise when a capybara came and tried to rob the tortoise. The tortoise hid in its shell and the capybara tried to push its own head through the opening of the shell as well. When it failed it started nibbling on the tortoise's feet until a staff member drove it away.

On the other side are calm and collected capybaras that couldn't care less if the world burned down around them. There's a big pond where a lot of them are chilling. Since the image of a sleeping capybara with 3 tangerines on top of its head is really popular here in Taiwan, the farm prepped some plastic tangerines that you can try stacking on their heads. They won't move or resist, they barely care, but the plastic tangerines have rounded bottoms, so you can't really stack them on top of each other. Still cute though.

There are also macaws, a type of parrot. You can line up to feed and take photos with them. You also need to post a story or add the photo to your previous Facebook post afterwards. The staff member will give you unshelled sunflower seeds, you can let the macaw stand on your hand and eat from your other palm. For children, they have a tiny handheld wooden stand for the macaws to stand on. You can watch up close as the macaw shells the sunflower seeds expertly with its beak and tongue, it's quite fascinating.

Zhang Mei Ama's farm is really a fun and educational Yilan tourist spot that you must visit if you love cute animals.