The Lazy 5 Ranch - - Mooresville, NC Review

My Mom wanted to treat us to a day at the Lazy 5 Ranch in the summer of 2008. The Lazy 5 Ranch is a privately owned farm for exotic animals. They have a playground, areas where you can walk around and see animals and also a drive-through portion where you can ride a horse-drawn carriage or feed and see animals from your own vehicle.

The Lazy 5 Ranch is very unassuming from the road. You can see a few animals through a high fence from the road, but one would never guess that the ranch houses over 750 animals from six continents.

Admission costs in September 2008 are (check website above for current prices and directions):
Adults $8.50
Children (2-11) and Senior Adults $5.50
Children under 2 are FREE
Groups of 15 or more are $5.00/person

Hours of operation are:
Monday-Saturday 9:00 a.m. until one hour before sunset
Sunday 1:00 p.m. until one hour before sunset

I would highly recommend getting to the ranch by early afternoon so that you have plenty of time to see everything. I would also recommend sunscreen since you can spend quite a bit of time outdoors here. They only allow you to feed the animals with buckets of food that they have available for purchase. The buckets are plastic and have pictures of animals and the Lazy 5 Ranch on the side, so it doubles as a souvenir, if you don't let one of the animals grab it and carry it away. If you do choose to feed and pet the animals, they have several dispensers with hand cleaner along the various walk-through areas. Animals can bite, and the emus are especially zealous, so be watchful with young children.

PICNIC AND PLAY AREA 

They have several different areas in the ranch. After entering the gate, you will see a shelter with numerous picnic tables and bathrooms. The bathrooms had about three stalls in each, so large groups may have a bit of a wait, but they did replenish supplies when they ran out while we were there. The ranch can accommodate large groups for school field trips, birthday parties, company picnics, and more. They also can accommodate special occasions such as weddings with a beautiful horse-drawn smaller carriage.

Beyond the shelter is a shaded play area with swings for adults and children, more picnic tables, and a playground with several "arks" with plenty of areas to climb and slide. My kids were actually more excited about the playground than anything else when we first entered. I think the play area needs some layers of mulch or other softer materials and to update their seat-belts on the children's swings to make it a bit more safe.

WALK-THROUGH AREA 

You'll see a small snack and gift shop and a walk-through animal area to the right of the entrance. The walk-through animal area contains quite a few birds, caged and un-caged, fish, lemurs, turtles, and several other small animals. Some of their large cages were empty, and they had some nice and informative signs describing some of the animals. Some did not have the type of animal listed, so that could use a little updating as well.

A petting area with goats and a barn is located at the back of the walk-through area. You can also pet the camels and larger animals that you may see from the road in this area. My mom mentioned that she saw an industrious camel take a food bucket right out of someone's hands and run off with it and another time saw a camel spit on a person. We decided to take our chances and were delighted to see that the camels were behaving themselves. We even got the chance to see a baby camel--how cute!

SAFARI RIDE 

If you go straight back after entering the ranch, you'll see the entrance to the 3 1/2 mile safari ride. A blacksmith shop is located by the horse barn to the right of the safari entrance. Horse-drawn wagon rides are available for groups with reservations, but you may be able to get in with a group that has extra room if you do not have a reservation. The cost is an extra $5.00 per person for individuals or $2.50 per person for groups of more than fifteen people.

The horses that pull the large wagons are huge and beautiful, and they do stop at certain areas along the way. It is about impossible to feed the giraffes from a car or truck--you cannot get out of your vehicle, so if you really have your heart set on feeding a giraffe, the wagon is the way to go.

The guides are quite knowledgeable about the animals and will tell you about the beautiful creatures you see along the way. My daughter's kindergarten class had a field trip here in 2006, and I thought is was especially neat to learn that the male ostriches (or was that emus?) would sit on the nests. We got the chance to see one sitting on a nest of about 40 eggs on that trip.

You also have the choice of driving through in your own vehicle. We've done this twice. The first time, we had the windows rolled all the way down and had our bucket of food ready. Well, the emus were cetainly ready for us--they just stuck their heads right in the car and had a free-for-all with the food bucket. They were slinging food faster than a politician makes promises! After we got the emus' heads out of the car, we decided that it was a much better idea to keep the windows rolled up most of the way unless we were feeding another type of animal. The emus would quickly sneak up, so we had to be very watchful! Plan to wash your vehicle if you are driving through--it is not unusual for an animal or two to slobber on the sides.

They do allow people in vehicles to stop and take pictures. They only ask that you pull over to the side so that others can pass. There are times when an animal decides to stand in the middle of the road. You can't honk at them or flash your lights, so either sit and enjoy the scenery or see if there is room to drive around the animal.

They have rules about what animals you can and cannot feed. The animal with the HUGE horns was on the "do not feed" list. They are actually pretty docile, but I can just see huge horns getting stuck in the car. The one in the picture was headed right for us. I wanted that picture really badly, but it was a close call to get the windows up and head down the trail--he was a bit too close for comfort!

My 6-year-old thought is was strange that the animals had "price tags" on their ears. We had to explain that they must identify the animals and tag them now due to regulations. To be honest, the tags do kind of look like price tags!

SOMETHING FOR ALL SEASONS 

Spring is an especially good time to see the baby animals--love is in the air when the weather begins to warm. Summer is great because school is out and it is easier to plan a trip on weekdays when it tends to be less crowded. Fall is beautiful with the changing colors and makes for some really cool pictures. Winter can be pretty chilly, but they also have Santa there during some of the weeks around Christmas. I haven't been there at Christmas time, but I've heard that is fun as well.

My Viewpoint:

This is a great adventure for the young and old. The walking area is not very spread out, which is helpful if you have young children or those who cannot walk far who are in your group. We took children aged 6, 4, and 11 months, and they all enjoyed this ranch for hours. The owners of the ranch do not destroy less than perfect animals here, which I see as a plus. Nature did not make us all "perfect," but I think we're better for being different. This ranch is very supported by the community, and I've been to the ranch a few times and have enjoyed each trip. You will always see something different, and the staff is friendly and knowledgeable. I give the Lazy 5 Ranch a definite five star rating.