Youth Ranch provides home for kids, needs hay barn

From left, Brandon Solis, 17, Keegan Johnson, 16, Emielia Solis, 14, and Ben Ortiz, 15, pet cattle as they graze in the field at the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranch in Batesville.
From left, Brandon Solis, 17, Keegan Johnson, 16, Emielia Solis, 14, and Ben Ortiz, 15, pet cattle as they graze in the field at the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranch in Batesville.

— For 40 years, the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches have provided children who often come from broken homes a place to live, while also working on a ranch.

Now the organization’s Batesville ranch is fundraising for a new hay barn, which will store up to 400 bales of hay.

The program, which relies heavily on donations, is seeking $15,000 for the barn.

“We are just asking the community and the state of Arkansas to help us put up this barn so we can continue growing our cattle herd,” said Philip Ives, program director.

Ives said that when the ranch began raising Hereford cattle two years ago, it started out with 10 head. “This year, we’re up to 87 head,” he added.

Ives also said the community of the ranch is “one big happy family.”

“Everybody here is for the children,” he said. “A lot of people want to think that because the name ‘sheriffs’ is in the title that we have bad kids. We just have good kids that come from bad home lives.”

The organization — which has sites in Amity, Batesville and Mulberry — began in 1976, when a group of sheriffs wanted a home for homeless, neglected and abused children, and kids who were out on the street.

The organization accepts boys and girls ages 6 to 17. The youths can stay until they are 21, and the program can help pay for their college education. The Batesville Youth Ranch takes youths who are in the Arkansas Department of Human Services system and those who have been recommended through private referrals.

“We don’t take government funding,” Ives said. “Therefore, we can pick and choose who can come to the ranch. If there’s a child that may not be safe for the other children, we can turn them away.”

At the Batesville ranch, children work four hours a day Monday through Thursday

building fences, feeding and caring for show cattle, and landscaping. In the on-site houses, they live with house parents, and the youths also receive an allowance. Ives said the purpose of the ranch is for the youths to gain a work ethic and acquire responsibilities.

“There’s no locked doors [in the houses],” he said. “Everybody’s a family. We’re very laid-back. There’s not a lot of money, but there’s a lot of love.”

Ives said there’s a constant need on the farm. The ranch bales its own hay but doesn’t have a place to store it, and Ives said he hopes the ranch will have a barn ready by wintertime.

“The kids come first, and the farm comes second,” he noted.

Ben Ortiz, 15, a Fort Smith native, has lived at the ranch for a little over two years.

“I didn’t know it was a farm until I came here,” Ben said. “We work with the cows and horses. We build fences and stuff. [My favorite is] dealing with the horses and cows because it’s something I’ve never done before.”

The Youth Ranch also accepts groups of siblings. Siblings Brandon Solis, 17, Emielia Solis, 14, and Isaac Tugg, 10, moved to Batesville from Fort Smith. Brandon said the siblings have lived in a children’s shelter before, and the Youth Ranch differs from his previous experiences.

“They treat me like all the residents here. The other ones, you couldn’t really do much. You had to stay in your rooms most of the time there. We do more than all of the other places that I’ve been,” he said, adding that the residents and house parents go to the movies and to swimming pools.

Brandon plans to attend Lyon College in Batesville and live at the ranch while he’s a student.

Emielia said it took her a couple of months to become adjusted to the environment, but her thoughts on it have changed.

“I didn’t really want to be here when I first came,” she said. “This is like my new home here. I know everybody, and they’re like family.”

Ben said the ranch is a place for those who don’t have anywhere to call home.

“It’s a really good place for kids that need it and people that don’t have families to go to,” he said. “It’s a wonderful place.”

Individuals can make one-time or monthly donations for the Youth Ranch’s barn. To donate, visit https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/asyrbarnraising. For more information on the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches, visit www.youthranches.com.

Staff writer Syd Hayman can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or shayman@arkansasonline.com.

Upcoming Events