lazy 5 ranch

One of Neland's good friends had his birthday party Saturday morning at Lazy 5 Ranch. We've heard so much about this place that we were super excited to go. It was about an hour drive to the middle of nowhere but it was well worth it. We took a wagon ride through the 185 acre ranch were they have over 1000 animals, most roaming freely. The best part of it all, you can feed them as you go.

 In the stable getting ready to go. Three very large horses pulled our party.

He might be a daredevil most of the time, but this kid was not fond of the wagon at first. He needed momma's lap. 

 Our first encounter. We had instructions before leaving, some animals you feed out of your hand, some out of the bucket and some you drop into their mouth. This was a out of your hand feeding of an Eland.

 Neland has no interest in feeding him.

 They advised us not to feed the zebras as they tend to bite. Our guide, Jim, also mentioned that this type of zebra (Grevy Zebra) proves that zebra are white with black stripes, as their stripes don't circle their body.

 Water Buffalo are fed by dropping it in their mouths. These guys were hungry.

 Neland stayed far away.

 Teague did his best to drop it in his mouth, most ended up on the ground.

 A baby giraffe.

 Apparently cows love me. Each one we encounter ran towards me.

 Look at that tongue. 

 Neland became a little braver each minute of the trip.

 This guy ran across the field to give me a lick.

 Luther the loner, a rhino. He's enclosed since they tend to be solitary and have very poor eyesight, and are pretty slow.

 They keep the ranch at about 1000 animals. Over the summer, the population grows so they sell off some of the animals. If you're wondering how much a giraffe goes for, it's more that $130,000. They also have 75 horses that pull the wagons. It took 3 horses for our wagon and on hot days, the horses will pull a wagon twice and then put to pasture.

 Feeding the buffalo.

 After our ride, it was cupcake time.

A great way to end a fun morning.