Officials in Sweden have begun “prescribing” travel to their country’s scenic shores, partnering with doctors to tout the benefits of communing with nature, but I’ll take it a step further. There’s a persuasive case to be made for the quiet therapy of holding something small, warm, and impossibly soft. And you don’t have to fly to Sweden to do it. With spring heralding baby animal season, now is the perfect time to seek out the South’s most pastoral corners, where lambs, kids, and other downy arrivals offer a gentle reminder that comfort sometimes comes on four tiny hooves.
Caramount Farm
Esmont, Virginia
At the bleakest crest of Covid despair, it was the soft miracle of newborn goats that coaxed a little joy back into my days. Every spring, this Central Virginia goat cheese farm hosts snuggle sessions during kidding season as a way to acclimate the babies to humans before they head to the milking pen. As a bonus, visitors get an undeniably sweet experience, an hour of cuddles with absurdly friendly goats.
Cyrus Ridge Farm
Waynesboro, Virginia
One of the greatest pleasures of a recent trip to Scotland was spotting Highland cattle, those great hairy beasties, dotting the misty landscape as my family drove between lochs. Turns out, these heritage-breed cows can thrive outside of Great Britain. For instance, in Waynesboro, Virginia, Aldus and Mercedes Simmons don’t just raise Highland cattle, they raise micro-miniature Highland cows. And you’re invited to meet the docile, itty-bity bovines. The couple offers scheduled farm tours year-round and notes that calves are almost always on site for a slobbery kiss.
Dunlin Goatery
Johns Island, South Carolina
“Oh yes, we have babies—lots and lots of babies,” says Missy Farkouh, operator of the Goatery in the South Carolina “agrihood” known as Kiawah River. Besides producing delicious, small-batch cheese, the Goatery offers chances to socialize with its herd—most memorably during goat yoga, where you move through sun salutations while nannies and billies tromp around you. Guests staying at the community’s on-site resort, the Dunlin, can also book private farm visits for up-close introductions.
Fort Worth Zoo
Fort Worth, Texas
Barnyard animals are charming, sure—but have you ever locked eyes with a baby elephant? Or watched a lion cub, all oversized paws and impossible fluff, tumble through the grass? Short of boarding a plane for safari, there’s no better way to encounter these little marvels than at a world-class zoo like Fort Worth, which recently welcomed two African lion cubs, Imara and Tamu. Perhaps the coolest thing about these critters is that each birth represents a major success story driven by the zoo’s conservation work. Of course, you can’t pet a lion (think of the liability insurance!), but if you head to the on-site Children’s Ranch and Petting Corral, you can cozy up to piglets, goats, and a donkey.
Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill
Harrodsburg, Kentucky
Spring at this 3,000-acre living history museum and nature preserve means fields dotted with wobbly-legged lambs, curious calves, and downy chicks, just as it did when the communal society put down roots here in the 1840s. During its Family Farm Days and Brunch with the Babies, this year held on April 11, 18 and 25, you can wander among the preserve’s thirty-four surviving buildings before playing with the barnyard babes.
Sunset Watersports
Key West, Florida
March and April bring peak dolphin-birthing season to Florida, but accessing these offshore nurseries takes a knowledgeable captain. At the Reach Key West and its sister property, Casa Marina, guests can tap into the expertise of Sunset Watersports, which offers guided boat rides through the island’s famed “dolphin playground.” Resident pods often surf the boat’s wake and put on a natural show, and if you’re lucky you might spot mother dolphins and calves. Afterward, snorkel the clear, reef-lined waters alive with sea turtles, eagle rays, and schools of tropical fish.
Campbell’s Lane Farm
Preston, Maryland
Two words: donkey cuddling. Technically the dozen donkeys in Anne Altvater’s Maryland herd aren’t babies, but you’d never guess it. Several are minis that barely top twenty-five inches in height, and their famously gentle temperaments make them natural candidates for a hug and nuzzle. In fact, Altaver says they’re just as effective as horses at providing equine therapy. Twice a month, during cuddle days, you can see for yourself.
Kinsey Gidick is a freelance writer based in Central Virginia. She previously served as editor in chief of Charleston City Paper in Charleston, South Carolina, and has been published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Travel + Leisure, BBC, Atlas Obscura, and Anthony Bourdain’s Explore Parts Unknown, among others. When not writing, she spends her time traveling with her son and husband. Read her work at kinseygidick.com.
