Maybe it’s the tidiness of the buildings, the lovely landscaping, or maybe it’s just the prospect of award-winning cheese (or maybe that’s just me, I do love cheese!) – whatever it is, pulling into Fair Oaks Farms in Fair Oaks, Indiana’s massive parking lot made me almost giddy with excitement!

There was a bit of a line but they actually have a few things right there in the entryway that kids can look at – one of those penny machines, for starters, so you better bring along your pennies and quarters!

The first thing we did was check out the 4-D movie – there was just enough time to fit it in before our barn tour! It was super cute and made me jump a few times. Yes, that does say 4-D: this tale of the cow includes spurts of air, splashes of water, and vibrating chairs — in addition to the 3-D experience. You may want to warn any of the more timid young members of your party just so they know what to expect.

After that we toured a super small portion of Fair Oaks Farms in a really nice bus (they only have 19,000 thousand acres or so!). My tip? Wait for the bus so you can be one of the first in line. Don’t be like us and play too long – because if you are one of the last families to board you will not get a seat together – everyone wants the window!

Well, the Dairy Barn Tour was pretty neat. We saw all the cows in their pens – many, many pens! The tour guide informed us about how they clean the barns and how they keep the barns cool in the summer and warm in the winter — and we saw where the babies were kept (which are later sold to other farms).

The more unusual feature of the Fair Oaks Farms tour was also the most unexpected! Did you know that they milk these cows on the bovine equivalent of a carousel? I’m not even kidding.

It spins around slowly and the cows hop on and off as they please. Our tour guide informed us that the cows really like the ride and some days are poky about stepping off of it after their milking is done! While I am not an expert in cow emotions, I would say that that did certainly seem to be the case — they actually seemed to really enjoy it!

You can kind of see how it looks from the picture on the left. It’s just a big circle! I’ve got more of an overview of the thing on Flickr – it would have been too small to see on little Indiana but you can enlarge it over there if you so desire.

My favorite part of the whole thing was the great big outdoor playground type thing. It wasn’t a playground in the traditional sense – there were no swings or merry-go-rounds but what they DO have is really cool! There’s a ginormous milk container climbing wall for all ages (hubs and Kid #1 both climbed it – repeatedly!) and a huge great big inflatable bouncy pillow, a Swiss cheese maze (that hubs got through but I admit Kid #1 and I cheated because we could NOT figure out where to go to get to the end!) and Kid #1’s favorite: the cute little ride-on tractors (that they can really drive!)…to name a few.

Can you tell we had a great time? If you decide to go visit Fair Oaks Farms in Fair Oaks, Indiana (and you so totally should): plan to spend the day. There’s plenty to see and do! I didn’t even mention the birthing barn!

Little ones may not get as much out of the barn bus tour (it’s too long for short attention spans) but there is a toddler play area inside where some other member of your group could hang out and watch them if they don’t much care either way. Also: bring socks. If you go to Fair Oaks Farms in Fair Oaks, Indiana on a sunny day, the bouncy pillow gets super hot!

As always, see my Flickr Page for more little Indiana and Fair Oaks Farms goodness!

Fair Oaks Farms
856 N 600 E
Fair Oaks, IN 47943

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