Vogt Farm — Local services in Batesville

We went to Vogt Farm on Friday for the first time after checking them out on social media and the internet. We were so excited to get there as I had looked at all the reviews and pictures online. I checked for hours on their website before we went which stated it opened at 12p. Upon arrival we were greeted at the parking lot by a woman who informed us that we were only allowed to get pumpkins from the piles they had right off of the parking lot. She and the man that must have been owners stood watching us the entire time we were looking at the pumpkins which made us feel very uncomfortable. The pumpkin selection was very nice as far as purchasing for our annual carving pumpkins, but I honestly would have left and went somewhere else if I knew of any other location close by that offered more than just pumpkins. I understand staffing might be an issue, but the website and social media page DEFINITELY needs to specify and disclose that you can't see any animals, shop the market, or see anything else on days other than Saturday. We left feeling extremely disappointed and with a lot of money in our pocket that we would have...

Pros: Prices not bad, and had a couple booths selling items... Cons: Almost all the pumpkins were rotten, because they had been pulled from the vine too early. Facilities were extremely filthy, and had toliet water on the floors. But by far the worst was the condition of the animals on the property. Several of the wagon horses had damaged hoofs, some bad enough to cause them to limp. The camel was extremely under weight, and was doing the confinement pace. He did not even recognize when someone would touch him, but continued to pace in the 20 foot path that he was confined to. Several of the ponies had injured hoofs as well, one was unable to put weight on it's back leg. The drinking troughs were stagnant, with visable containments in them. In general the animals had very withdrawn attitudes, and seem neglected. There was a large turnout, in spite of the animals horrible living conditions. In total 8 of us came, and all agreed that was the first and last time to go. Can not help support such neglect of animals. The worst thought is, if it was this bad when they open their doors, how much worse is it the rest...

My number one issue was that it was entirely too crowded, which is no fault to this farm. That's just the way it is.

Something I think this farm could do better would be to work on cleanliness and take better care of their animals. One example is they made a horse pull a wagon with a clearly bandaged hoof. Another is their camel was so badly matted and dirty many of the patrons were commenting on how sorry they felt for it.

Many people go here to ride the wagon to the patch, but since it's so crowded you have to wait in a long line for a good while. It's just not worth it to me. On top of that you should probably bring your own wagon to haul your pumpkins to your car because they only have like 3 for...