Autumn Ridge Acres

05/19/2026

To all those parents or grandparents rockin on the fence about rodeo…figure it out! It will be the best decision you ever make. God, country, family & rodeo!

She found the gap in the fence on her own.

I didn't show her.

One minute she was beside me in the stands.
The next she was down at the rail —
both hands on the wire,
face pressed as close as she could get.

Brianna is eight.

This is her first proper rodeo.
Not a fair. Not a parade.
A real Saturday night PRCA event
with full lights and dirt and noise
and everything that goes with it.

I watched her more than I watched the arena.

The way her mouth opened when the bronc exploded out.
The way she grabbed the fence a little tighter.
The way she didn't look away.
Didn't flinch. Didn't ask to leave.
Didn't reach for my phone.

Just stood there.

Completely and entirely present.

The way only a child can be
the exact moment they find
the thing they were made for.

I've been around rodeo my whole life.
You forget how big it is.
How loud. How alive.

She reminded me tonight.

On the drive home she sat quiet for twenty minutes.
Then at a red light she said,
"Can I ride one?"

I said, "What do you mean?"

She said, "One of the horses. The big ones."

I looked at her in the rearview mirror.

I said, "Yeah. We'll figure it out." 🤠❤️

05/06/2026

WHY IS BEEF SO EXPENSIVE?! 🥩

Friend, I need to sit down with you and have a real conversation about beef prices. Because I know you’ve been standing at that grocery store cooler, staring at a package of ground beef, and thinking — what in the world is going on?
Let me tell you. Because this is important and you deserve the truth.

——————
The mama cow numbers tell the whole story.
Right now, the United States has the smallest beef cow herd since 1951. Let that sink in. We’re talking 27.6 million beef cows across this entire country. That’s not a typo. Seventy-five years ago, America had more beef cows than we do today — and we had half the population.

The 2025 calf crop came in at 32.9 million calves. The smallest since 1941.
We didn’t get here overnight. This has been building since 2022 when drought hit hard across the Southern Plains and ranchers had no choice — they sold their mama cows because they couldn’t feed them. When you sell the mama, you don’t just lose one cow. You lose every calf she would have ever had. You can’t turn that back on like a faucet.

——————
And here’s why it doesn’t fix fast.
A chicken takes 6 weeks to raise. A hog takes 6 months. A beef cow? She doesn’t even have her first calf until she’s 2 years old. And that calf takes another 18–24 months to finish. So when the herd shrinks, the beef market feels it for YEARS — not weeks.
We are living that right now.

——————
And the farmers raising that beef? There are fewer of them every single year.
In 2025 alone, America lost 15,000 farms. Not gained — lost. We’re down to 1.865 million farms nationwide, the lowest in modern history. Since 1950, we’ve lost 3.75 million farm operations — a 66% decline. And with fewer farmers comes less pastureland — the U.S. has lost 25 million acres of farmland just since 2018.

Less land. Fewer farmers. Smaller herds. Less beef.

That’s not a supply chain problem. That’s a generational problem — and it doesn’t fix itself overnight.
——————
When you buy from a small farm like us — Sim- Angus -influenced, grass-fed, grain-finished, single-origin beef raised right here in the USA — you’re not just buying beef.
You’re keeping a family farm in business. You’re choosing transparency over mystery meat. You’re getting real food from real people who know exactly what went into that animal.

That’s not expensive. That’s honest.

Drop a ❤️ if this helped, and SHARE this with someone who’s been asking why beef costs what it does. They deserve to know the truth

The supply isn’t coming back fast. Prices will stay strong through 2026 and likely into 2027. USDA economists are projecting record-high cattle and beef prices continuing — because you simply cannot rebuild a cow herd overnight.

04/26/2026

Gorgeous day for a trail ride!

04/25/2026

“I’ll be right back guys…”

drives to the yard and never emotionally returns to normal society again 🐴🌿

There is something about turning into that lane.

The hedges. The smell. The slight panic about whether you shut the gate properly this morning. The mental list running at 400mph.

And then…

You open the car door.

Mud. Hay. That oddly comforting eau de stable. A distant whinny.

And suddenly the noise in your head drops a few notches.

The yard isn’t glamorous. It’s not peaceful in a spa-retreat kind of way. There’s always hay to sweep, poo to pick, and a cob plotting world domination near the feed room.

But it’s our space.

It’s where:
• you decompress without explaining yourself
• you can be quiet without it being awkward
• you can dissolve into a mane and nobody asks questions
• and your nervous system remembers how to breathe

You might arrive overstimulated, tired, snappy, mentally juggling life.

And then you pick a hoof. Brush a neck. Lean your forehead against theirs.

And the world softens.

So yes.

“I’ll be right back guys…”

Translation: I’m off to regulate my nervous system with 600kg of emotional support animal and I will return muddier, poorer, but significantly more sane.

Every. Single. Time. 🖤🐴

04/25/2026

This right here… is what most people don’t see. A trailer full of hay. Around $600 worth of hay. And the fuel it takes to get it here. It lasts this farm maybe two weeks.

Horse ownership isn’t just lessons and riding time. It’s feed. Hay. Bedding. Labor. Land. Maintenance. Fuel. Vet bills.

And right now, all of it is going up.

We’re in a drought. Which means grass isn’t keeping up. Hay is being fed later in the season than usual. For those who have to ship hay in, fuel costs have also doubled, only adding to the rising costs of this industry.

Hay prices are rising. Delivery costs are rising. Everything it takes to care for these horses is climbing right along with it.

This isn’t a complaint. It’s just the reality of what goes into doing this the right way.

Because cutting corners isn’t an option when you are dealing with living beings.

The horses still get fed. They still get quality care. They still come first. Always.

Next you cut that check for lessons, training, board, and think, "man that's alot of money"... think about this hay. Think about the feed bills when feed is averaging $30 a bag right now. Think about supplements, vet bills, etc. Think about the time it takes to care for those horses daily, and the potential labor costs involved in that. I don't know anyone in this industry who truly charges enough.

04/23/2026

04/22/2026

04/17/2026

If you board horses at our facility, please accept invite to ARA BOARDERS page.

Thanks!

01/20/2026

01/09/2026

08/02/2025

2 mares for sale at AUTUMN RIDGE ACRES. Two different owners.

Peytyn/Joe own Penny. She’s a 19 year old Palamino who does barrels. 618-924-0302

Denise owns Gypsy. She’s a 17 year old paint. 618-599-5342