Animal feeding is touted as one of the highlights for the bus ride tour at UK Farm Agro Resort and we frankly didn't think too much about it as there's a high possibility we would be made to pay for the "feed"; i am usually too stingy to fork out money for such commercial activity.
Hence, you can imagine how delighted i was when i was handed 3 packs of feed (hay, cornmeal etc) and a coupon to exchange for a bottle of milk! As we were not likely to know which pack is for which farm animal, we were advised to follow instructions from the accompanying guide.
Goat Feeding - first animal for us would be the goats and to do that, we were brought to the goat pens. In case you are unaware, UK Farm is the biggest goat farm in Malaysia!
With busloads of visitors that dropped by on a daily basis, the goats were attuned to our presence and knew we had hay for them!
Be careful; they could be 'over-enthusiastic' and it's always good to exercise some caution, especially those with kids. The mouth can be faster than your hand and you wouldn't want to be caught in between the goat's upper and lower set of teeth.
Kid (Baby Goat) Feeding - get ready the coupon to exchange for a bottle of milk. The counter was actually located in the same shelter as the goats and along the way towards the exit.
Change for a milk bottle and find a kid (as in baby goat) that you took a liking for.
Since they were all so adorable, it's hard to make a decision and i eventually just stick the teat towards the one that appeared to look the hungriest!
Prepare to gasp in surprise as they literally gave their all in sucking out the milk; the bottle deflated rapidly and i had a hard time pulling away as the baby goat had the tendency to bite tightly to the teat!
Don't believe? Look at my sister's expression!
Cages for the even younger goats - the sign was bold and clear; please do not feed them the milk bottle. Guess theirs would be the enriched and more expensive formula.
Baby ones cuter right?
Please do not bring the milk bottle home; return them to the counter where you exchange for them. You would not want bring it back anyway as the teat would be covered in goat's spit. In addition, the smell of milk worsens in hot weather!
Oh, can carry baby goat for free!
I didn't take up the offer as i was wearing black and pretty sensitive to smell but Joyce and my friend did! So quiet and docile right?
Moving off to our next destination!
Duck Feeding - it's actually a humongous pond with an elevated sheltered platform where visitors can step in for a view of the pond. Now that i think about it, i don't think i have ever been this close to a duck farm.
As with the goats, our arrival had conditioned them to crowd around for food!
The pack of crushed corn feed shall come in handy this time. Please keep in mind to leave about half a pack as you can use the same feed later for another type of animal.
Honestly, the perimeter wasn't that high but i didn't see any duck attempting to fly out.
Joyce performing her farm-girl responsibility.
Information on the incubation of duck eggs. Weirdly, we don't get duck eggs in Singapore; only salted duck eggs and i don't think i am able to taste the difference between chicken and duck eggs.
Floating platform in the middle of the pond with a few plastic pipes that were attached to the elevated platform we were on. I initially thought they were installed merely as stabilisers for the floating platform.
It's more than just that.
The pipes served a secondary purpose as the feeding device for the ducks! No wonder the ducks were happy to stay on the floating platform despite the hot sun!
In case you are interested, you can actually buy a live duck from UK Farm and if you find it too horrifying to kill it, you can pay an extra RM 10 for the farm staff to kill and de-feather the duck for you. Note - i don't think you can bring back to Singapore.
Chicken Feeding - i have no idea why it was listed as jungle fowl on the information poster as they all looked just like the chicken i was well accustomed to since young.
With the tall wire mesh surrounding the chicken enclosure, it's hard to throw the feed at them. Hence, do look out for the wider openings at some sections where you can put your palm through.
Many visitors didn't bother and continued to throw the feed; resulting in wastage beyond the reach of the chickens. They appeared so helpless although i believe the farm operators would still feed them at the end of the day.
Given the hot weather, most chickens were under the shade and in close proximity to the blue water dispenser. With plenty of running space, the chickens were blessed with muscular legs; similar to the kampong chicken range.
Yes, you can buy them too!
Lastly, the ostrich park which could have been better named as this area also housed the deer and rabbits! If i recall correctly, there were as many deer as there were ostriches.
Ostrich Feeding - i think this biggest bird in the whole world is a greedy species; hence explaining the reason to put up the sign asking visitors not to feed the animals with plastic.
It's interesting to feed an ostrich; basically, you pour out the feed onto your palm and let the ostrich stretch its neck and initiate the feeding.
As they have no teeth and the beak isn't sharp, the sensation felt weird and unreal; can't really find an appropriate way to describe it except for maybe clapping.
Deer Feeding - this wasn't my first experience with deer feeding as our family did the same thing at Bandung's Kampung Cai Ranca Upas which has a high number of deer.
In comparison to the ostrich, I think the deer is even greedier as the same sign was put up every few meters at the deer enclosure.
Feeding the deer is also vastly different compared to the ostrich. Back in Bandung, we used carrots to entice the deer and it's a good feed to use.
Here at UK Farm, we only had crush cornmeal and since we couldn't throw at the deer, we had to put it on our palms just like the way we did it for the ostriches.
Problem; the deer's sticky saliva. I don't even dare to smell it but i am glad the deer appeared to be on cloud nine as it licked up the content on my palm.
Thank god for water taps!
Bonus - rabbit feeding was available too although there's a charge of RM 3 for a pack of pellets. To read more and for more photographs, check out my posting here.
=====
Location
Within UK Farm Resort,
Kluang, Johor State, Malaysia
Google Map
Check out my google map (look for UK Farm under Day One) as above.
Admission Fees
Part of the tour package that cost RM 47.70 an adult.
For the price of RM 47.70 per adult, i am not expecting a scale similar to Mari Mari Cultural Village at Kota Kinabalu when we dropped by Jakun Village; it's merely one of seven stops in the tour package!
Hence, i was mildly surprised to find a small stage with spectator seating. Wow, i wouldn't have expected a show, to be totally honest. p.s. picture was taken after the show had ended.
What really shocked me was when the show began.
There's only one performer and he was diligently dancing to the aboriginal music played via the speaker system. I thought there might be more from behind the wooden backdrop but there wasn't.
I can't say if there's any element of authenticity since there's no narration. Such performances bore me after a while (no disrespect for the performer) and when they happen, i would look around to see if i could pick up any interesting thing. See that pinwheel like thingy? Spot the eight countries listed there!
Holding a pipe, he continued his lonesome dance.
It's only when he pointed it upwards when i realised that's no simple pole; it's a blowpipe! I looked up and there's the cluster of balloons at least about five floors high!
Would he succeed in bursting at least one?!
Of course he did; in fact, he managed to burst two of them, adding to the countless that he had already destroyed. Someone thought he would have to climb up to tie the balloons after every show. Maybe that's the case in the long past. Nowadays, he would just make use of the pulley system.
Want have an inkling of how the dance and the pipe blowing go? Click the video above.
Picture taking with the performer! Even though i didn't quite understand the link between the farm and the village, it provided for some entertainment in the hot afternoon.
Another highlight was the towering hut that was propped up with long, skinny wooden poles. Not exactly stable looking and i couldn't decide if i should climb up.
I always accept a dare!
The hut was quite sturdy and even though we were about 4 floors high, i didn't get jelly legs. As you can probably see, my sister was the bravest among us siblings!
Steep staircase which was fine when you climb up; to climb down, it's recommended to reverse exactly the same way you climb up, albeit down instead of up.
Frankly, i think this display was down; all i could see were gooey stuff in glass containers. The information sheets failed to provide the needed explanation.
Cluster of stilted wooden houses that was devoid of any furnishing and a bigger pavilion with displays of wooden shields that you can take out to pose.
Done with this stop and it's time to board the open-air, old-school bus!
=====
Location
Within UK Farm Resort,
Kluang, Johor State, Malaysia
Google Map
Check out my google map (look for UK Farm under Day One) as above.
Admission Fees
Entry is complementary after you purchase the tour package. The basic package (RM 47.70 an adult) would bring you on a 2-3 hour bus journey with interesting stopovers comprising of animal feeding (with free feeds) and even a visit to a mock up Jakun village!
