As this sign tree indicates, there are just too may ways to have fun at Lucky Ladd Farms.

When Jason Ladd gave his wife, Amy, a pot-bellied pig several years ago, little could the couple have guessed it would lead to one of Middle Tennessee’s biggest agritourism successes.

Last year, 30,000 visitors (20,000 of them came in fall months) hiked their 58-acre Lucky Ladd Farms, home to Tennessee’s largest animal petting farm, and meandered through their 3-acre sorghum maze.

Among the most enthusiastic fans of the farm are elementary school children. On a recent Friday, a half dozen or more school buses deposited a couple of hundred kids before noon, and they appeared to be having the time of their lives. The Ladds anticipate playing host to more than 7,000 youngsters from schools in seven or more counties before Halloween.

The idea for the petting farm and most of what has followed germinated with Amy, who grew up in the city.

“I talked him into getting me a pot-bellied pig,” Amy recollected, “and next thing we knew, we had sheep, goats and about 50 other pets.  

Jason, Amy’s husband of seven years, lived on a farm in Franklin where his family raised cattle, hogs, goats and chickens, and grew crops such as potatoes and tobacco.

“He said I needed to figure out a way to feed all these pets. I told him people in the city didn’t get to see all these farm animals. It took me several years to convince him it would be worth it to give it a shot,” she said about starting a petting farm to give city folks and suburbanites a small taste of country life.

“I didn’t really know if this was gonna’ work,” Jason confessed. “I know that people in the city rarely see this, but I grew up in a country family doing all the work, and it wasn’t fun with me. I told her she was crazy.”

Now into their third year and providing jobs for 40 employees from late September to the end of October, the couple has a bonafide hit on their hands, and Jason is happy to be eating crow.

The Ladds did their homework before tackling the venture by visiting more than 40 farms tied to agritourism across the Southeast.

“We use the word ‘farm’ instead of ‘zoo’ because there are no exotics,” Amy said of their petting zoo, which is open Easter until the end of October.

“We care for the animals 365 days a year. We breed registered stock such as fainting goats and Babydoll Southdown sheep,” she said.

Lucky’s Barnyard holds more than 100 traditional farm animals including ducks, chickens, peacocks and a baby mule. Among the stars are donkey Jake, goats Tullie, Ashes and Zipper, sheep Lola, miniature horse Star, llama Juanita, and Charlotte, the oinking pot-belly-pig that helped the Ladd’s bring home the bacon.

New this year is a nighttime adventure, Pumpkin Hollar, that offers a trail lit by hundreds of carved, glowing pumpkins. It is not haunted, Amy assured.

The myriad of activities here to suit the fancies of those young at heart include hay wagon rides, a tractor train, a tire mountain, a corn cannon, minihay bale maze, Maizee’s Magic Carpet Ride (80 feet down a mega slide), Thumper’s Turbo Tunnel (a 40-foot monster tube slide, Rooster’s Racers, pony rides, tire swings and Bessie (a make-believe milk cow on which to practice your milking skills). On weekends, there is live entertainment ranging from chainsaw carver Brandy McElroy to magician Rodney Kelly to scientist Mr. Rich.

“This is the second year we’ve come here,“ said Kelly Patterson, a kindergarten teacher at Christiana Elementary School. “The kids absolutely love it. It’s so organized, and there’s so much for them to experience. That’s why we came back.”

For younger children, Jason said that the Colossal Corn Crib Box, a 24- by 26-foot structure with a roof but open on all sides and brimming with shelled corn, is the favored attraction.

“The kids really love it and play in it like a sandbox. I’ve seen some of them cry when they’re told they’re gonna have to leave,“ he said.

As for their green labyrinth, the sorghum maze where folks find it easy to get lost, the theme this year is “the buzz about bees.”

“It’s much more challenging than last year,” Amy said. “It has a bunch of honeycomb shapes and bees, so it’s easy to get turned around in.

“Inside the maze we have a game, Maze Master Challenge. You have about 10 hidden checkpoints, and you can get a game sheet. There is a hole puncher at each point to mark your game card. If you punch all 10, you can enter to win a Xbox Kinect. The winner will be randomly drawn on Oct. 30.”

As for the maze, it was planted the third week of July, and today the sorghum reaches upwards to eight feet tall. Jason planted two varieties, milo and sudex.

“We use sorghum in the maze because it’s more drought tolerant and because I can plant it more denser,” he said. “We think sorghum is more of a challenge than the corn because you can’t see through the rows. It’s thicker and more dense. The reason we plant two varieties is because the sudex is a tall, slender stalk, while milo is a short, fat stalk which supports the tall sudex.”

A-maze-ing isn’t it?

Lucky Ladd Farms

Tennessee’s largest animal petting farm puts on its friendly autumn face with more than 30 family-fun activities, starring an Amazing Maize-Less Maze, a pumpkin patch, hay rides and a barnyard full of critters.

Open now through Oct. 30, hours are 2:30-6 p.m. Fridays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays and noon-5 p.m. Sundays. Flashlight Maze Nights will run 5-9 p.m. Saturdays. Admission is $8 (children under 2 enter free), while Maze Nights is $10. The farm is open during the week for school groups, daycare groups and mothers'-day-out programs by reservation only. Pumpkins are not included with admission but are sold in prices from 50 cents to $35.

Lucky Ladd Farms is located halfway between Murfreesboro and Franklin near Eagleville at 4374 Rocky Glade Road. For more info, call 274-3786 or go online to luckyladdfarms.com.