Yesterday morning, we did our usual pilgrimage to Hay’s Dairies (upon the request of our kid, who else) and I had the chance to use my new Panasonic DMC-FX01 camera. Do join us on our virtual tour and hopefully you can learn a thing or two about how you can attract crowds to your farm-based attraction. Hmmm…. are they a farm or are they an attraction?
Our journey to the North West took almost an hour from our home down under. The trip was pretty rough for a 3.5 year old.
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These tourism brown signs provide very useful navigational hints to drivers like myself. And they are even branded with the logo of the goat farm.
See what I mean? The entrance to Hay’s Dairies has this nice family of goats beckoning to visitors.
Ample and free carparking are always welcome in land scarce Singapore.
If you don’t drive, you can always catch a ride on the Kranji Express, a shuttle service which plys the various farm attractions in the neighbourhood. A fabulous idea for those without cars.
What are these people staring at? And why is there a “No Entry” sign right where the action is?
Ahh…. So that’s what they were all staring at! The men in Phua-Chu-Kang-esque yellow boots are putting in tubes to pump the milk out of them mama goats.
Another view of the intense tit-squeezing action. Ouch!
A nice touch in any attraction. Toilets and washing facilities that are child-sized, right down to the sinks and the toilet bowls.
At $2 a packet, selling food to visitors to feed the goats makes perfect business sense. Well, at least I know that Ethan is old enough to buy his own hay! You’ll see him in action later.
The goats seem to be living the life, lazing about in their clean, dry and shady sheds.
This barnyard was where the main action is at. Both mature male goats and their kids were begging to be fed by hapless visitors. Interestingly, many were families with toddlers like us! I guess kids (the bleating kind) do attract kids (the weeping kind).
Here’s Ethan diving into the feeding frenzy.
Educational captions and signboards like this one in English taught visitors about the various families of goats.
Another educational caption, this time written in Chinese to appeal to the majority of Mandarin-speaking heartlanders. Clever.
Giant industrial-sized fans kept both animals and humans cool in the blistering mid day heat. A welcome respite indeed.
Fresh goat’s milk for sale. They are nutritious, easily digestible, lower in calories and terribly expensive at $2 per 200 ml bottle. They also come in two flavours – natural and chocolate.
After a hard morning’s work of feeding goats, Ethan enjoyed his chocolate flavoured goat’s milk with much aplomb.
Publicity, awards and accolades galore for Hay’s Dairies. From the crowds that visited today, we can certainly see why they are making waves.
Wah! Singapore got goat farm? Now I know why I read your blog, it makes the my country bigger. =P
hi i would like to exchange my link with you if you are interested in link exchange wtih me email me on:-
[email protected]
my blog url is:-
http://hollywood-premier.blogspot.com/
Hey, the photos from your new Panasonic DMC-FX01 camera looks better than those photos that you have taken previously.
Thanks for this post. I have never been to Hay Dairies Goat farm but it certainly looks fun!
Looks good!! I think I should be making a trip there soon.. hehehe 🙂
btw ur cam is really gd 😀
I think Ethan will also like this place along Neo Tiew Crescent, near Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve called Hausmann. They sell aquarium products and have activities for kids like catching longkang fish. Across the road, there’s a hydroponic farm called Aero Green.
Alright, another choice for me for my weekend activity.
Nice photos, much clearer and beautiful colour.
charmingboy,
Thanks for the offer. Unfortunately, I don’t think your content quite matches mine. Do come back often though.
oceanskies, thanks for the compliments. I am still trying to figure this fellow out, and night or indoor shots are more challenging than the outdoorsy ones. I like Panasonic for their Leica lens and anti-shake mechanisms.
Ben, there is a lot to see in Singapore. I guess what I hope to do is to introduce some of these sights to you guys, albeit in my own quirky way!
etel, you should go there and if time permits, maybe check out the other farms in the area too. That’s my next family project. He he he.
pauline, you should go and have a look. I find that driving through the vast open rural spaces and taking in the fresh air is very therapeutic. Of course, you need to be able to find your way there through winding country roads. Fortunately, I had lots of practise during my NS days driving through this part of the woods!
Ahhh… a nice photo essay about the goat farm, Walter.
I passed by while on the Kranji Express during my trip to Sungei Buloh with some friends two Saturdays ago.
Didn’t stop by ‘cos we were hunrgy. We headed straight to Bollywood Veggies!
Oh, the Kranji Express has EzLink facilities. Absolutely brilliant. The driver we encountered was really friendly and knowledgeable too.
Ethan has his haircut 🙂
I went to Hay’s Dairies and the surrounding other farms numerous times when Jaymes was younger. Kids just love the wide open space and the cute animals. It’s a great outdoor experience.
Hay’s does a good job of educating and entertaining its visitors. It’s a tough uphill task for these farms when it comes to marketing. The government doesn’t help them much.
I would like to go to Bollywood Veggies next weekend. Anyone can give directions?
Kenneth,
Thanks for the compliments. I am inspired by the many bloggers like you and Marcus who take beautiful pictures. Agree that the Kranji Farms are certainly doing something right with shuttle service. I didn’t know about the EZ Link facilities, which is truly another feather on the group’s cap.
eastcoastlife,
Glad you noticed Ethan’s hair cut. We think he looks cute with a botak hairstyle, and its also good because he keeps getting all sweaty!
We ever popped by Bollywood Veggies before but didn’t visit it then as the weather was too hot then. Certainly sounds like an interesting idea to go there, together with the Frog and Bird Farms. To get there, you can check out this location map for directions:
http://www.bollywoodveggies.com/bigmap.html
Its actually quite easy if you know how to get to Kranji Road. Have fun!
Thanks Chun See! We will probably bring him there one of these days. As most parents (including my own) will tell you, when children’s raise pets, it is often their parents who end up doing it for them. However, I think longkang fish shouldn’t be too difficult… 😉
Nice post on Hay Dairies, Walter. Hay, I mean hey, when will you be doing visits to museums? 😛
victor,
Thanks for your kind words. I have actually done a previous post on Chinese Heritage Centre here and more recently on the Singapore Science Centre. As for the NHB museums, well, they are mostly pretty well covered in Yesterday.sg so far. Still, I may be blogging about them down the road so do keep a look out!
hey,.. i din noe there is a goat farm in SG. i stayed not too far away, care to gimme the add?? Mm… no prob.. i can get it online too. but hor juz a suggestion, wont it be gd if u add the address for ur reader next time =) hehehe.. gd stuff muz share share ma..
I like the pic which Ethan gulping down his milk. =) so cute!! am thinking of changing camera too. my casio Ex-600 doesnt provide very gd macro and nite shot. =(
take more pix with ur Panosonic baby, k?
Zee,
Thanks for the nice comments on the pics and also the helpful suggestion. Hay’s Dairies is located off Lim Chu Kang Road, with their address at No.3 Lim Chu Kang, Agrotech Park Lane 4. There is a bus no 175 from Choa Chu Kang Interchange or you can also take the superb Kranji Express at only $2 (which accepts EZ Link cards too).
Hmmmm… next time must see whether I charge the attractions that I promote? LOL.