A Day on a Dairy Farm/Amusement Park

Today is Children’s Day! Kids in China get the day off of school so my uncle decided to take all of us to the largest dairy farm in Shenzhen. We went with another family. My uncle had gone to school with the mother and father. One thing I learned is that when you are with four little kids, three grandmothers, and a nanny, it takes forever to get anywhere. We planned on leaving in the morning but by the time we actually got there it was almost noon so we decided to eat first.

The restaurant we went to is owned by the farm and uses all its fresh products. We were seated in a special banquet room because there were so many of us.

The specialty was fresh yogurt and this type of roasted bird. I’m not sure what it is called in English but here they like to eat it chopped up and plated, with the head and all.

Chinese yogurt is so good! It is very different from what we eat in the US, as it has a very runny consistency, a sour and sweet taste, and is slurped through a straw.

With full stomachs, we headed to the farm. As we entered the main entrance, we were greeted by this huge statue of a cow.

There were so many animals! It was almost like a zoo. We saw the Tibetan Mastiff, a rare breed of dog that is apparently extremely aggressive. It was huge. There were also horses, dairy cows, deer, pigs, alligators, and fish. The farm makes a ton of money through selling visitors food to feed the animals. For example, we were able to feed milk to the cows, carrots to the deer, and greens to the pig. Each portion of food costs 5-10 yuan, or around a dollar.

Here I am feeding milk from a bottle to a very thirsty cow. I found this extremely ironic.

We also got to ride horses! I didn’t want to ride alone so I went with one of the trainers. He started making the horse gallop and I felt like I was going to fall off! I just gripped the handle of the saddle as tight as possible. I don’t think they treat the horses here very well though. There probably isn’t the same level of animal rights activism and legal protection. The trainers handled the horses very roughly and the poor animals were all branded.

As dinner time rolled around, we decided to eat out again. This time we went to another restaurant that belonged to the farm. Again, we ate the specialties of roasted bird and dairy. This time the dairy product was served in a hot ramekin. It was warm and had the consistency of thick yogurt but was extremely creamy and rich. It is a delicacy which is rather expensive because it is made from the milk of a cow right after it gives birth. It is supposed to be very nutritious and full of protein.

It’s strange that I’m actually eating more dairy here than I do back in the states, but I think the products here are much fresher. Yay for calcium! Maybe I will grow taller over the summer and surprise everyone back home when I return.