About Us
Why "Remark-able Ranch"?
Our family name is Kramer. When you were young, did you ever try to use the word that is the spelling of your name backwards? Yea, we did too..."REMARK"! Why "Remark-able"?
We are a family with two very specially-abled young adults! Our son is a hard-working, Christian, outdoorsman, and full-time optometrist.
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Our daughter was born with aphasia, and despite having over 2000 genetic tests, MRIs, MRSs, coming back normal, she remains with no other diagnosis other than aphasia which effects her language-based development and provides intellectual challenges. She is a beautiful socially-adjusted and loving adult who now acts as our ranch hostess and cares for many highland cows! She may never be able to get a driver's license (a really disabling situation in the US!). But, she is able to do so much more than her diagnosis might make you think. We encourage everyone to EMBRACE THEIR ABILITIES. We want to focus on abilities so we like the word "able".
Our Mission
To Offer Progams (using the wonderfully docile Scottish Highland cow) to our target communities* that:
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cultivate empathy and understanding for all who are “differently abled”.
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improve understanding of mental wellness.
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are a resource for creative & engaging activities
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increase outdoor activity as a fun alternative to the overuse of social media (especially by our young adults with special needs)
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positively impact & educate anyone who rarely interacts with farm animals!
* Our Target Communities:
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Special Needs (Physical, Intellectual, Developmental), Aging, Mental Health-focused groups
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All ages
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Primarily (but not limited to) Hancock, Henry, Shelby, and Marion counties
Our Story in Pictures
We began our mission in October 2023 by personally funding as many free experiential programs on the farm as we could manage for three organizations that support special needs individuals in Hancock and Henry counties.
Eventually, we developed portions of our farm business to offer fun and educational experiences to the public at reasonable prices to generate funds to support these free programs with improved facilities.
The pictures you see in the section just below are from one afternoon visit by one group of friends from "New Adventures 4 You". It was a beautiful day with beautiful people - one example of a simple experience the Remark-Able Ranch offers!
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In 2024, continuing to be funded privately by our own farm business, we expanded our mission to include senior citizens in residential living facilities, began to include more food, crafts, and art in our programs and started our first Mental Health focused events.
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... KEEP SCROLLING FOR THE REST OF OUR STORY...
Embrace Your ABLILITIES!
New Adventures 4 You
Bottle-feeding highland
calves is a favorite!
Rock painting or other "make it and take it" craft sessions.
We make lots of friends and laugh a lot.
These pictures do not show it, but we also feed "protein cubes" to the mature horned highland cattle
​Our Mission (Continued)
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In 2024 & early 2025, with our expanded mission ( senior citizens in residential living facilities and Mental Health-focused events) we began hosting (free) senior groups at the ranch, including crafts, art lessons, snacks, and of course, hands on time with the fluffy cows!
Soon, we established procedures, equipment, and insurance to allow us to even travel with mini-cows or weanlings to visit at residential living facilities for large group visits especially for those who could not travel to our farm. Immediately below are pictures of a trip taken to Greensburg Indiana where we had an AMAZING visit with the residents of Hickory Creek Nursing facility and their families, in such a loving environment focused on finding meaningful and fun experiences for their residents. Good for you, Hickory Creek Nurses!! They even made cartoon characters of our cows while we were there (see them below!). ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
​Our Vision for the Future
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​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​A long-term vision has always been to grow this into a non-profit that would add value to the lives of many specially-abled individuals in our community for many years to come. We envision having facilities to support more frequent and more independent hands-on animal care experiences for our target communities and their caregivers.
In July of 2025, after a year of working with attorneys, we were approved as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. This was a major milestone for us. It included establishing many formal procedures and a board of directors who are now overseeing our efforts.
There is still so much work to be done as we grow. You will see changes happening even in this website and in the name of our Scottish Highland Breeding business going forward. Hang on! It will be a fun ride and we are hopeful that this will set us up to be successful and increase our community outreach in the best ways possible for many years to come with the "HAPPIEST & HAIRIEST COWS ON EARTH*" (*in our humble opinion)
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Suggestions? Comments? Questions? If you'd like to volunteer with us, let us know! If you need community hours, let us know! If you just need to Hug-a-Highland for your own mental wellness, well, we certainly understand that too, so LET US HEAR FROM YOU!
Contact us at: RemarkableRanch@gmail.com
Remark-Able Ranch is Proud to Host Some of the Best Organizations for the Specially-Abled in our Communities
Check out some of our favorite visitors!
DDSi
(Developmental Disabilities Systems, Inc.)
Outside the Box
Shares, Inc.
Hancock County Poss-Abilities Workshop Day 2024
We had the opportunity to host a workshop with an amazing community program that we have a lot of pride in: Hancock County Poss-Abilities. Their goal is to make active livestock experience POSSIBLE for youth of ALL ABILITIES. And they are amazing at it! We've watched this program develop in leaps and bounds over the last several years. These pictures are from when we jumped in to support them in 2024 as soon as we found an opening!
We made Butterflies that flap!
We even fed the mature horned cattle!
We took pictures with
Auggie in our
"Happy Place"
We did a lot of crafts, planted flowers in pots to take home with us, and got to pet and brush young highland calves.
Who We Are
We began as a breeder of Highland cattle. All of our cattle are purebred but not all are registered.
Did you know that Highland cattle were considered an at-risk breed until relatively recent years (read about that here). It was just in 2019 that this beautiful breed reached numbers enough to be removed from the Livestock Conservancy’s Conservation Priority List.
