Triple C Farm — Attraction in Hamilton

Unkempt farm. Poor communication.

I visited this farm in May prior to my son’s birthday party to check it out. I was showed a nice outdoor area by a pond and saw the petting farm which looked acceptable at the time. I was told the parties are held under the tent unless bad weather is happening - in which case, they use a large white dome that is covered and bring animals to the party. I agreed to this.

We showed up for the party in July, on a beautiful day during beautiful weather that I was watching closely all the week, to find they would be putting us under the dome regardless. When I brought it up to the workers, I was given different explanations as to why the dome was chosen for us. I was not given any alternative options - so assumed this was the way it had to be. With my guests arriving from out of town and the party starting immediately, administration told me that it was up to me to say something at the time, make a fuss about it, and they would have come up with another plan. Turns out, the tent had been broken due to a bad rainfall that happened weeks ago. When I asked them why they couldn’t give me a call to let me know this - their response was ´other families were completely fine with the dome switch so we assumed you would be too ´. They would not admit that a quick courtesy phone call to offer alternatives at their farm to be reasonable request, rather they continued to explain how weather situations were out of their control. As it turned out, I had to host the party under a very hot dome, flies collecting all over our food, and a giant fan running that was loud and extremely dangerous with little toddlers running around.

The horse rides were done with a horse that half the children were scared to ride on, given its size. This includes the 3 year old birthday boy. And everyone had to wait for the older kids to ride before they could go into the petting farm. This made parents riding horses very uncomfortable. No activity was offered to kids not riding - in fact, they were told they could not feed chickens during this time.

When we entered the petting area, it appeared like the manure from the animals hadn’t been cleaned or swept in days. There was manure absolutely everywhere. When I say everywhere, I really mean everywhere. During the petting, we were also being told not to go too close to certain animals or that some were actually ´not friendly’ - or that if the animal looks at you in a certain way, to step back.

Post-birthday, when I asked what they could do to have made us feel ANY better about the events that had unfolded after voicing my concerns, they offered a 150 gift card to come back to their farm… I wanted to see if they would be willing to at least refund the money, and they simply responded ´no’ and continued to give more apologies and excuses why they were not responsible for anything that had happened during our day.

Be warned that this is a petting farm that means well - but that is unwavering and very difficult to work or communicate with. They claim that they care about your experience but my story is very telling that they frankly do not, nor are they willing to uphold their responsibilities of making their guests happy and maintaining their farm to an...

My sister wanted to try alpaca yoga for her birthday. She found Triple C farm and the reviews looked good, so we booked it. 24 hours prior to our yoga session I received an email from ‘Trish’ telling us to remember to bring our yoga mats as they aren’t renting them at this time…I did not know anything about this prior. There was no mention of a need to rent mats, let alone bring your own. If you are offering yoga sessions, I would think the mats would be included. We’re not off to a good start.

Upon arrival, after almost getting hit by an oncoming vehicle in a one-lane driveway with no room to pass, we parked as indicated in what appeared to be a neighbour’s backyard. Walking through the grounds to the yoga area is dusty and busy. Lots of animals, people and tractors moving around. It is a bit of sensory overload, to be sure. I imagine their neighbours must be amazing people to have all this noise in their backyard, not to mention the lack of privacy. We could see right into the one neighbours house, but I digress.

The email 24 hours prior also indicated that masks were mandatory while entering and exiting the yoga area and if you were leaving your mat, however, this was not enforced. There was not a single mask to be seen. If you are immunocompromised, do not expect Triple C Farm to concern itself with your wellbeing.

I was disappointed with the location of the yoga session. The photos on the website show a lovely, grassy field with lots of goats roaming around, however, we were set up in a small pen enclosure on gravel of all things! If you’ve never tried to do yoga on gravel, let me warn you, it sucks. I don’t know who thought this was a good idea, but they ought to be fired. Terrible planning. Side note, alpacas don’t seem to care much for gravel, they stayed at the edges of the pen where they could eat grass the entire time.

The yoga session itself was ok, the instructor seemed knowledgeable about both yoga and alpacas, which was lovely. It was about 20 minutes late starting as it took them a long time to bring the alpacas down from the barn. Luckily, we weren’t in a hurry, but the inconsideration was noted. As expected due to the late start, the session ran about 20 minutes past the hour. When we were finally able to interact with the alpacas and take some pictures, an angry employee came over and barked at the staff for running late. Rude, not to mention inconsiderate considering we weren’t able to interact much with the alpacas – which is what we paid for.

Everything is a cash grab; nothing is included with the yoga ticket. The petting zoo looked crowded, so we didn’t bother. The animals we did see roaming the grounds looked a bit sickly. One chicken had half its feathers plucked out! The water in the pond and in the animals’ pens was dirty and had a green film over the top. The water feature is a lovely way to drown out the noise during the yoga sessions, but the scum on the pond was enough to turn my stomach.

Overall, I wasn’t thrilled with the experience, and I would not go back or recommend to a friend. It’s a shame really. I had high hopes for this....

We have been going to Triple C since our little one was 8 months old. We usually go 5-6 times a year. It is a favourite of ours because of how free the animals are to wander around.

Now, when you are visiting, it is important to remember that these are animals, rescued animals. As gentle as they are, and they are the sweetest souls, they are still animals. I can argue that your own pet can “attack” you but we have never felt unsafe at Triple C.

From experience, when visiting with little ones, make sure to keep your eyes on your kids. Mine likes to run around, he is very loud and we make sure he is within arms reach at all times. Do not try petting the animals when they are eating (in all honesty, do not try petting ME while I am eating either! 😄). All these instructions are given when you get there.

Because we have been there during different times of the year, I can say that the staff and volunteers are absolutely under appreciated for what they do for these animals. We have been there when they were super busy (and rushing around, maybe being short to guests because of that), when they were understaffed, when it was crazy hot and everyone was running around to make the animals comfortable. This is a family owned farm, not a corporation managed petting zoo. What they do with what they have is incredible!

We were also lucky enough to be the only guests on a slushy Saturday morning in December and could not get to the horses paddock. The owner kindly asked someone to bring Athena out (my son’s favourite horse) and we brushed and fed her (again, within arms reach or in my arms). We are always invited to say a quick hello to this gorgeous girl when we are there. So you see, timing is everything for your visit. If you can, I would recommend a week day visit, it is less crowded and you can enjoy your time with the animals more. We have been to all zoos and petting farms in southern Ontario, Triple C is one...