Planning a trip to pet sheep at Taiwan’s Qing Jing Sheep Farm

Sheep! They are so much more dog-like than I ever expected. I absolutely adored our day at the Qing Jing sheep Farm- make sure you come for a visit when you come to Taiwan!

Qing Jing Sheep farm is located in Nantou County in central Taiwan (in fact Nantou is the only completely land bound county in Taiwan). Getting there required another lengthy bus ride full of switchbacks up the mountainside, but it was so worth it in the end! The first thing we did upon arrival was…of course play with the sheep. Oh my goodness. The sheep. They were just so cute! They legit act like puppies, following you around waiting for a treat. The sheep are completely free to roam about wherever they please on the grassland, but seemed to love being around people (the sheep food that you can buy for 10NTD or around 30 cents USD definitely helps). There were some very fluffy sheep and some slimmer (recently shorn) ones, but they were all cute. I had a blast just walking around the green pastures, luring sheep towards me with my little box of food and petting their soft (and oddly spongy) wool.

A focus on Yunnan food

Right outside the grassland was a food court area filled with carts selling snacks and meals, most notably with a Yunnan influence. We had Yunnan style beef noodle soup as well as Yunnan style “dou gan” (stewed firm tofu). They made the dou gan into a sort of sandwich, slicing the tofu in half and sandwiching pickled veggies and fresh cilantro inside.

I also had sheep milk ice cream and picked up a bag of sheep milk tablet candies as a souvenir, perfect to remember the sheep farm by. Sheep’s milk tastes different —more gamey and savory— than cow’s milk. It’s a unique taste and snack that I’m excited to bring back to share!

Qing Jing Sheep Farm also offers a skywalk with magnificent views of endless pastures and mountains. Very reminiscent of a Taiwanese version of the scenery seen in The Sound of Music. I was a little apprehensive about spending one of my precious days in Taiwan here because some reviews online mention that there isn’t much else to do here other than playing with the sheep and wandering the skywalk. I would still highly recommend this outing if you are at all an animal person- I absolutely loved it!