Petting zoo hits 35-year milestone
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Rocky Top Ranch, a family-owned petting zoo, is celebrating 35 years of introducing children and adults to unusual animals at events across North Dakota. One of its repeated hosts is Berry Acres Pumpkin Patch in Minot, which has been hosting the petting zoo this fall.
Started by Dennis and Karla Erickson in 1990, the petting zoo has operated every year since, except for 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Dennis Erickson said it started as a hobby farm with unusual animals. Benedict, the town they resided at at the time, asked them to bring animals to the Fourth of July celebration one year and from then on, the Ericksons grew the service. Now, Dennis Erickson said, they go all around North Dakota bringing the petting zoo with them.
The zoo started with miniature horses and grew in its diversity over the years. Today, they have miniature horses, miniature donkeys, pygmy goats, fainting goats, baby doll sheep, Shetland sheep, alpacas and more. Two of the zoo’s newest additions are the four-horned Jacob ewe and blacknose sheep, and Erickson said the petting zoo is always doing its best to continue expanding.
Each year the ranch also holds sales of livestock on the first of May and September. Erickson described the sales as an "outlet" for 4-H members to sell and buy animals. The sales attract around 400 attendees and are held at the Rugby fairgrounds.
Erickson said his goal in running the petting zoo is to get the youth back to animals and off electronics, and he believes that allowing the youth to interact with animals and take care of them will give young people more responsibility.
Dennis and Karla Erickson both have had experience in taking care of and interacting with animals throughout their lives. Both were 4-H leaders and all three of their children were in 4-H.
Dennis Erickson grew up in Granville, where his father started him off working with animals around the age of 6. Now his adult children and grandchildren help him with his animals.
Erickson said he is supposed to be retired, but he is doing what he enjoys. He said he enjoys watching the gate at the petting zoo and described a scenario which often takes place. He described a child who is scared to go into the zoo and scared of the animals. Then he offers to walk the child inside and introduce them to the animals. When the parents tell the child that it’s time to go, the child doesn’t want to leave.
Erickson said he hopes to continue the Rocky Top Ranch petting zoo through his family and remarked how fortunate he is to have a wife who loves animals as much as he does. He said he is always excited to continue to grow the zoo, and he is also excited to see the 4-H and animal involvement traditions carry on.