These adorable Utah cows are available for cuddling. And the best part: You’ll help local farmers.

The sight of pastures of cows in the Spanish Fork area — a Utah County city steeped in farming and ranching history — is not uncommon.

But, a field of unusually fluffy bovines originally from Scotland being cuddled by humans? That’s rare.

Utah Cow Cuddle at Fold of Liberty Farms in Lakeshore started a year and a half ago, according to Vernon Stout, whose family has owned the 50-acre farm since 2021. The attraction started off as pure happenstance, according to Stout.

“We just were out here working with the cows and petting them ourselves … People would come stop by the edge of the fence and say, ‘Hey, can we take pictures?’” Stout said.

Neighbors, he found, were drawn to the cows for their cuddliness. The family started hosting sessions for people to feed and cuddle the cows for $5 a piece. When interest picked up even more, they raised it to $10 a person. Now, for just over $17, visitors can spend half an hour with the cows.

The cow cuddles are a form of agritourism — where the agricultural lifestyle meets tourism. For the Stouts and other farmers across the state, it’s also a way to bring a steady stream of extra income into what can be a rocky business.

“Agritourism is great because it diversifies your abilities,” Wade, Vernon Stout’s son, said. “So if we couldn’t do agritourism here, then we’d just be limited to, well, how much beef can we sell? Can we have chickens? How many eggs can we sell?”

Stout said the income the farm earns from customers cuddling cows helps pay for the farm’s operations, but “most importantly” they use the income to buy food for the cows in the winter.

At the end of April, across the sprawling green field, with mountains so close they feel touchable, the Stout’s 25 Highland cows soak in the spring time weather. They’re big and fluffy, in shades of brown, red, black and white. Their wisps of fur dance in the slight spring breeze as they chew on grass.

Running the farm is a family affair, with Vernon, his wife Rhonda, his two sons Wade and Kaleb, and Wade’s wife Sariah. The cows take to the Stout family easily, nudging their arms for cuddles and to get the Stouts to rake their fur with the combs. Sariah makes friends with the smallest of the clan, Iagan, who is skittish, whereas Kaleb captures the attention of Clementine.

Each of the cows have a distinctive personality, too, according to the attraction’s website.

The Stouts know specific things about each cow. There’s Oatmeal, whose real name is Gwenevere but her cream coat color inspired her nickname. And Nan, a bright red one who loves to have treats and get petted. Finn is a little white bull with a penchant for following people around the field when he wants pets. Bailey, the newest addition to the farm, is super friendly.

Agritourism and food production

The benefits that come from agritourism have caught the eye of the state.

A 2024 law sponsored by Utah Rep. Carl Albrecht, R-Richfield, allowed the state to establish a voluntary registry of agritourism businesses to support the industry across the state.

Agritourism, Albrecht said, helps give Utah’s farmers and ranches “a little extra income during the off season.”

Albrecht said some aging farmers in the state are looking to hand over operations of the farms to their children. The problem, he said, is that more and more of the farmers’ children aren’t keen on taking over.

“It’s hard work, and they can maybe do better elsewhere by getting an education and working an 8-to-5 job or starting their own business,” he said. “It was just something that we thought would help younger farmers who were taking over the family farm … be able to help make ends meet for them.”

Albrecht says he predicts that agritourism will continue to grow in Utah as the state’s population increases and people continue to be curious about the rural lifestyle. And he hopes it can help people better understand the link between the farms and their food.

“A lot of people think we get milk and beef steaks at the grocery store, and they don’t really understand where it really comes from,” he said.

The state Legislature is also set to study agritourism during this year’s interim session.

Caroline Hargraves, the director of marketing and economic development at UDAF, said Albrecht’s 2024 bill also helped provide “additional protections” for agritourism operators, such as liability protection.

The online farm directory has all types of farms from all over the state — from Elwood’s Enchanted Hollow Alpacas to La Finca Flower Farm in Pleasant Grove.

“Several generations ago, we were all connected to a farm or more connected with our food supply,” Hargraves said. “Now a lot of people never get to set foot on a farm, so for businesses, it adds that economic impact, but also it helps provide that community connection, so that people can have a better understanding of how the food supply works.”

She said that her department has spoken with many farmers who say the added traffic from tourism is “what allows their multi-generational farm to stay in operation.”

“It helps them diversify their revenue streams, add income to their farm,” Hargraves said. She added that her department is working on creating “best practice guides” as well as resources for local municipalities.

While these agritourism activities draw people to these farms, the work of a farm also continues. Fold of Liberty Farms is a working farm, and they don’t shy away from that, even as they’ve heard concerns from people who “don’t like the fact that you cuddle a cow and then you’re going to eat that cow,” as Stout puts it.

Stout said that the farm harvests old cows “when they get too old to breed or have muscular or skeletal issues that makes them have a poor quality of life.”

“We will harvest them and turn them into [a] burger rather than letting them suffer,” he said. “We are a farm after all and we produce human-consumable food.”

Hargraves said “it’s important for people to see the full life cycle” of how their food is raised.

“That’s where agritourism really shines, is you get to come out here and experience the farm life,” Wade Stout said. “Whether you’re on a conventional farm or regenerative agriculture farm like ours, it’s a very positive thing to see how your food is produced.”