The Random Ranch

The Random Ranch, Colorado’s award-winning educational animal sanctuary, is located in Douglas County. Where compassion, charity, community and rescued animals are united together to better everyone’s lives! There is a variety of domestic and livestock animals that have come to live out their lives at the sanctuary because they lost their homes due to previous owner's health issues, changing lifestyles, and/or financial circumstances.

It takes a community to support all these animals, and we welcome our community to join our efforts.

How can you get involved? To financially support our mission, we rely not only on your donations and sponsorships, we also offer our community members one-of-a-kind up close animal encounters emphasizing animal care and welfare via: classes, tours, camps, private parties, team building activities, and various “FUN”draising events.

Voices of Our Guests: “The Random Ranch is my happy place!”

We are humbled to receive over 150+ 5-star reviews on Google and FaceBook!

Our story...

We were living in the Denver area, raising our two daughters with our 2.5 dogs on a 1/4 acre lot, while also boarding two horses. Life was good, but one random day we decided it was time for a change. Our search began...it was similar to the Goldilocks story. Some properties were too small, some too big, but we found one that was just right. We fell in love!!!! In less than 24-hours, we sold our city home and our adventure began. Little did my city-slicker husband know what was in store when we began developing "The Random Ranch." A shiny new red barn, a full-sized arena, a round-pen and lots of fencing. In addition to our handful of personal animals, we began taking in rescued horses, donkeys, goats, cows, sheep, chickens, giant dogs and, of course, barn kitties…now we can officially say that we have crossed over to the ‘country life’ and are loving it!

Fast forward a few years…

…we randomly became a small private educational animal sanctuary!!

Recognized as as Colorado Nonprofit with 501(c)(3) status

All donations are tax-deductible

OUR MISSION:
At The Random Ranch Educational Farm Animal Sanctuary, our mission is twofold. First and foremost, we are dedicated to providing a natural and secure home for farm and domestic animals who have lost their homes through no fault of their own. These animals find refuge in our sanctuary, where they are given the love, care, and attention they deserve, ensuring they thrive in a safe and nurturing environment.
Secondly, we are committed to sharing our knowledge and experience as a not-for-profit Animal Sanctuary. We strive to educate our community about the profound commitment, effort, and resources required to properly care for domesticated animals and livestock. Through this education, we aim to raise awareness of the ethical, humane, and compassionate treatment of animals, cultivating a greater sense of responsibility and empathy within our community.
OUR VISION:
The Random Ranch envisions a future where every individual in our community who wishes to take on the responsibility of caring for animals or starting a small farm does so with a profound understanding of the rigors and requirements necessary to provide ethical and humane care. By providing comprehensive education and fostering a sense of responsibility, we aspire to prevent the unnecessary suffering of animals, creating a world where every creature is treated with the respect and compassion they deserve. Together, we can build a brighter, more harmonious future for all beings.

THE WHY…

Through the years of living at The Random Ranch, we have witnessed the trend of families who thought it was a good idea to start a small farm, too, many without any farm animal experience and without fully realizing that caring for these animals is not as easy as it looks on Animal Planet, TikTok, Instagram, and FaceBook. Many of these “thought we could do it farms” only last for 2-3 years. As a result, the animals are ‘re-homed,’ which not only floods the local rescues, but oftentimes, these animals are sent to auction or meat markets because rescues and sanctuaries are overpopulated already.

Recognizing this trend, The Random Ranch has developed fun interactive classes, camps, and private experiences to try to help educate families before they delve into farm life. We hope that by sharing our knowledge, it will help prevent animals from being at risk. We share best practices, protective methods from predators, neighborly concerns, fencing requirements, species compatibility, health care, storage, equipment knowledge and much more. Trust us, we have experienced our fair share of hard lessons ourselves, which is what motivates us to share our knowledge.

MORE ABOUT US…

Understanding our own limitations on the number of animals that we can safely and passionately care for; we also donate some of our funding towards other animal rescues and sanctuaries to help support their causes. Another focus is to assist families in need of assistance to re-home their animals due to finances, health, or natural disaster. We provide resources to guide families on how to safely re-home their beloved pets so that they don't get scammed into the cruel world of animal abuse where many animals end up bait for dog fights.