We are a small family farm located in the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley about 30 miles north of Santa Barbara. Our donkey farm was originally The Ballard Apple farm with over 800 apple trees. We now have 80 trees with 12 different varieties, some of them antique varieties from Europe. Families have been coming to our farm to pick apples for many years. Our picking season usually runs from late August to November. Most of the land is now being used for our precious Mediterranean Miniature Donkeys.
We started with two little donkeys in 1998 and fell madly in love with these sweet equines. It is our mission to educate everyone possible on how wonderful, intelligent, funny and affectionate these mini donkeys are.
Visitors are always welcome at our farm. We offer kiddie rides to small children and encourage everyone get to know these sweet donkeys. We enjoy taking our donkeys to birthday parties and giving rides. Our donkeys have been "servers" at wine tastings and we have packed them with lunches for picnics. We think that miniature donkeys are the best kept secret and have made it our mission to educate everyone possible on how loyal, affectionate and intelligent they are. Please come by and meet our donkeys. We also have added some animals including goats, turkeys, ducks, a zonkey, a mule, a pot belly pig, and a giant tortoise , too! We are open to visitors from 10:00am to 3:00pm Wednesday through Sunday.
We are deeply committed to raising the very finest miniature donkeys possible. We have sought out proven bloodlines from all over the country and aim to breed the best possible miniature donkeys. All of our foals are imprinted at birth and cared for daily with loving individual attention. Miniature donkeys are the sweetest, most affectionate equine pet you will ever find. They will steal you heart from your first donkey hug. We encourage our buyers to keep in touch and we are always available to answer questions. We love to “talk donkeys” so please come by for a visit. You don’t have to be a buyer; we love to share our donkeys!
