This story originally appeared in the January 2025 issue of Town&Gown magazine
In the hustle and bustle of modern life, imagine escaping to a haven of calm and joy without leaving Centre County. Picture yourself slowing down, breathing deeply and enjoying the simple things in life—all while cuddling with a fluffy farm animal.
Across the country, farms are opening their barn doors for visitors to disconnect from daily stress through unique experiences like goat yoga, piglet snuggling, alpaca therapy, cow cuddling and more. These activities blend the calming presence of animals with mindful practices like meditation, gratitude, belly breathing and conscious movement to create the perfect getaway for individuals to recharge.
Whether you’re looking to stretch your muscles alongside playful goats or seeking a hug and gentle nuzzle from a cow, these farm-based retreats provide a refreshing reminder of the healing power of animals and the rural countryside.
At Nittany Meadow Farm, a small, family-owned farm in Boalsburg, mini-Nubian and Nigerian dwarf dairy goats help expand on the traditional farm offerings to provide a unique form of relaxation and joy.
Though the farm will soon include a dairy selling pasteurized goat milk, goat cheese and yogurt, owner Tara Immel says it’s important for farmers to diversify. At Nittany Meadow Farm, this means combining meat and seasonal produce sales, goat milk soap and the to-come dairy offerings with “agritainment” activities like goat yoga, a Goats2Go bus, goat visits, goat grams, farm stay cottages for rent, Goats & Art, goat socials and more.
Thanks to these unique experiences, Nittany Meadow Farm was recently named Centre County’s “Tourist Attraction of the Year” by the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau.
After previously owning a small farm with a herd of beef cattle in Julian, Immel and her husband, Michael, have owned Nittany Meadow Farm for four years. She explains that the farm grew from wanting a couple pet goats to having a herd of more than 70 goats today.
“After selling that property [in Julian], we didn’t expect to live on a farm again, but here we are, and it’s the perfect place and life for us,” Immel says. “I told Mike that if we ever had property again, I wanted a few pet goats. One thing led to another and now we have more than 70 goats; a small herd of Angus cattle; and a few pigs, lambs, chickens, dogs and cats.”
Of the farm’s extensive goat experiences, Immel shares that goat yoga is her favorite because of the unique and memorable experience it gives visitors. She describes goat yoga as being just as it sounds, with visitors practicing yoga while the goats roam, jump and ask to be petted.
“It won’t be the most focused yoga class—many people get distracted by the goats—but it will be fun and memorable,” Immel says.
Goat yoga has been offered at Nittany Meadow Farm since 2021. Immel shares that it started because she wanted to try it herself, and there were no local goat yoga classes at the time. After holding a 10-person class led by yoga instructor Mandy Sergent Glitzer, owner of the State College-based yoga studio Wellness in Motion, Nittany Meadow Farm goat yoga was born. Immel says the farm now holds around 60 public and private goat yoga classes each year, typically scheduled from March until November. Each class is one hour—30 minutes for yoga and 30 minutes designated for pictures and snuggles with the goats, and the opportunity to visit the rest of the goat herd in the barn.
“The best part is people’s reaction to the goats running out of the barn at the beginning of class,” Immel says. “The goats know exactly what to do, so they run straight to the group, and we hear lots of laughs and squeals and see so many happy and exciting faces.”
To prepare for yoga, Nittany Meadow Farm’s Nigerian dwarf goats start training when they are a few months old to learn jumping on command and other tricks. Immel explains that most of the goats participate in yoga until they are between a year and a year and a half old before moving on to the farm’s dairy operations. Immel says they use Nigerian dwarfs for the yoga experience due to their size, interest in interacting with people and fun demeanor.
“Our goats are very well socialized by the time they finish training and are ready to make lots of people happy!” Immel shares. “It’s a unique experience that allows people to relax, have fun and play with goats. I think that people also see it as animal therapy, a way to improve their mental health while enjoying the company of cute, snuggly and very friendly goats alongside their friends, spouse or partner, or family.”
In addition to goat yoga, Nittany Meadow Farm offers visitors the chance to stay on the farm and experience the goats through “goatcations,” a goat-focused version of a farm stay. Two farm-themed cottages, the Milk House and Wagon Shed, are available to rent year-round. During a stay, visitors can engage with the goats and enjoy the farm’s property.
“Folks can do as much or as little as they’d like during their stay,” Immel says. “Some people like to just visit with the goats and other animals. Others want to put their farming skills to the test and help us out with feeding and caring for animals, cleaning pens and collecting eggs. The experience really depends on the person or family visiting and how much they’d like to engage with farm life.”
For those looking for short-term goat experiences, Nittany Meadow Farm offers day visits to the farm; celebratory, personalized goat gram visits for birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions; and a Goats2Go “barn on wheels” bus complete with young goats for events and parties. Immel says adding more experience events is a priority for Nittany Meadow Farm. New events include several Goats & Art classes, a Harvest Moon dinner and an Ugly Sweater Goat Social.
“Goat joy spans generations—the goats make everyone happy, from little kids to older folks and everyone in between,” she says. “You cannot leave the farm without feeling happiness after time with the goats. Every interaction with our goats is an opportunity to make a person’s day better and help improve their mental health and well-being. We’ve had so many people say that they haven’t felt so joyful or laughed that much in a long time after experiencing our goat activities. We continuously see joy, laughter, smiles and happiness. People fall in love with their sweet personalities, mischievous ways and playful attitudes.”
Located just across Boal Avenue less than 2 miles from Nittany Meadow Farm is Bear Meadows Farm, a locally owned farm focused on selling raw milk and eggs. Jeff and Claudia Biddle assumed operation of what was then a beef cattle farm in 2002, selling the beef cattle and converting the farm into a grass-based dairy in 2005.
Biddle’s Bear Meadows Farm is one of only three animal welfare dairy farms in Pennsylvania. To Jeff Biddle, a self-proclaimed lover of cows, the animals are not production numbers, but gentle animals with names and personalities.
Bear Meadows Farm began selling raw milk in 2009 after receiving the necessary sales permits. After the first full year of selling raw milk, Biddle wanted to celebrate the community that had been created and share his love of his herd with that community.
“I talked to my wife and said, ‘We really don’t have customers; we have friends,’” he says. “We decided at that point that we needed to have a party. This year, we held our 15th customer appreciation celebration.”
At the annual celebration, typically held at the end of September or beginning of October, current Bear Meadows Farm customers have a unique opportunity not available to the public—the chance to meet and cuddle with the dairy herd while enjoying food and bluegrass music. Biddle shares that the cow cuddling experiences of his customers range from awe of their size to pure excitement to be near the cows.
“Some customers say, ‘Oh, they’re so big! I had no idea that they were so big,’” he says. “For other people, it is just pure joy. If the cows are in the barn, we bed them up good. I’ve even had people lie down next to a cow and prop their heads up on them.”
Because much of the Bear Meadows Farm herd consists of Holstein cows, their size can be intimidating for some. Full-grown Holstein cows can weigh upwards of 1800 pounds, so Biddle often sees customers most interested in young calves.
“People can just love up on the calves and their big brown eyes,” he says. “They are hard to resist.”
Biddle encourages his customers to interact with the full-grown cows as much as the calves to experience their lovable personalities and calming nature.
“To realize that you are standing next to this huge animal can freak you out, but in reality, they are such sweet animals,” he says. “We have good cows. We work with them every day. Part of the customers having interactions with them—our cows are so used to people, and that makes them that much easier to handle. Every animal, whether it is a cow, dog, cat or goat, they give you exactly what you give them.” T&G
Samantha Chavanic is a freelance writer in State College.
