How cow-cuddling came to be at Fold of Liberty Farms in Lake Shore
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- Vernon Stout interacts with a cow at his farm on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Lake Shore.
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- A Scottish Highlander cow lounges at the farm on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Lake Shore.
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- Vernon Stout brushes a cow at his farm on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Lake Shore.
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- Vernon Stout brushes cows at his farm on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Lake Shore.
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- Vernon Stout poses with his cows at his farm on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Lake Shore.
Vernon Stout did not set out to create one of the state’s most unique tourist attractions when he brought Scottish Highlander cows to his 50-acre farm in the Lake Shore community of Utah County.
The cows serve Fold of Liberty Farms’ goal of being a fully regenerative farm by grazing and fertilizing the land.
But the Scottish cattle breed with a shaggy coat was unmistakable to people driving by the farm, and after enough came by and asked permission to visit the cows, an idea was born.
“After maybe 100 people came and visited our cows, we were like, ‘I wonder if more people want to do this? It kind of feels that way,'” said Stout, an Orem resident. “So we just said, ‘Hey, if you want to come, we’ll let you come and help pay for some food.’ And then after a little bit, we realized maybe this is actually a real deal.”
Earlier this year, the Stout family built a website and a social media presence inviting people to come hang out with their cows, allowing them to brush them or even cuddle up to them. Word got around quickly thanks to other people posting on their social media, and a formal business was set up with set time slots.
“At first, we were just like, ‘Hey, come when you want to.’ And we had so many people come,” Stout said. “We’re like, oh, the cows are overwhelmed by too many people. So we have specific time slots that you can sign up for, and we have 20 people at a time.”
The visit offers a close-up experience with livestock you won’t find at most farms. The docile cows enjoy getting their fur brushed and will sometimes allow people to cuddle up to them while they’re lying down.
Stout found it to be a healthy hobby that can offer an emotional boost to those who visit.
“It’s very therapeutic for my wife and I and our family,” he said. “So many people that come really enjoy it and come out and just love to sit with the cows.”
Stout acquired two Highland cows from Oklahoma when he bought the farm in 2021 and has steadily grown the herd to 28 cattle since, some by purchase but most through artificial insemination or embryo transfer, where a Highland cow embryo is placed in a Black Angus cow, which then carries the pregnancy to term.
The male cows, or bulls, are either sold or placed in the farm’s beef program, while the female cows, or heifers, are the ones that get petted and are expected to live about 20 years.
These cows are rotated daily to different half-acre sections to graze on 30-40 different types of grasses, Stout said.
How receptive they are to cuddling depends on the time of day and the circumstances.
Stout said the second or third morning session around 10:30 a.m. is generally the peak time to visit, as the cows are starting to lie down and relax. In the evening, you can catch them lying down more from 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.; then they start grazing again around 6:30 p.m.
Uncontrollable circumstances may disrupt their rhythm, though, like a horse-drawn carriage trotting past that prompts the herd to stand up and bunch together to protect itself from a suspected predator.
Six of the cows are currently pregnant, which can also impact their behavior.
Similar to a pair of dogs vying for attention from their owners, the cows can also get jealous of each other, butting their heads if one cow is getting brushed and they aren’t.
“Cows are large animals and are unpredictable, because it depends on the weather, depends on how much they’ve eaten,” Stout said. “The vast majority of people have had a fantastic experience of just being able to go sit down by a cow and lay … Sometimes they’re moving around a little bit more. It really just depends on when you come.”
Catching them at the right time, though, is when the magic happens, where you can lounge on a majestic, fluffy creature that enjoys your company.
“We’ve had lots and lots of people go to Scotland and have not had the opportunity to pet a cow, and they went to Scotland to pet a Highland cow, and they didn’t get to do it,” Stout said. “So to be able to come here and actually interact with a Highland cow, to pet it, to snuggle with it (is special).
“We’ve had people just come and lay down on them, and, you know, just lay down next to them, stick their head on them, and just take a nap.”
Stout himself has also grown attached to many of the cows, something he admitted he did not expect.
“Especially the little ones,” he said. “They just know you so well, and they just want to come say hi. So when you come and they just run over to you and say hello, that’s a big deal.”
In exchange for the experience, each customer pays $18 (plus a transaction fee), providing a new revenue stream to finance the farm’s greater goal of producing food without using chemicals, including a variety of nuts and berries, with future plans for a greenhouse to grow produce.
“This is helping us build it,” Stout said.