Scatter Joy Acres

Larissa Hayes

2024-04

This place is absolutely my favorite place to go.I need to know if they have memberships? Because I would totally get one and come here all the time!I’ve been here two times so far and the animals are very kind. I was scared at first bringing my child, even though my child is very good with “nice touches”. The horse wanted to brush up against us and cuddle with us. 😂 The animals will come up to you and they are actually very kind. They also have a good event area and it would be perfect for birthday parties and nice playground.

Stacey Edwards

2024-04

We had such a great time visiting all the animals! What a great place to spend a few hours! The kids loved the porcupines, kangaroos, and dogs.

Travis Tucker

2024-03

Joy’s vision for sharing her appreciation and enjoyment of God’s creatures is contagious.We’re thankful for the invitation to dinner to learn about the people who are contributing to this vision of helping others. We enjoyed the animals and seeing first hand how they are an integral part of the on-going mission of providing therapy through interaction.We saw evidence and heard testimonies of the developmentally disabled / autistic, as well as seniors, veterans, and at-risk teenage children. This was impressive.Personally, as a family we were comforted by the interactions with the caring staff and board members. It’s understandable why others are finding solace, peace and joy in the company of these well-cared for animals.Following our visit we decided to adopt some pets from the available rescued animals. The process was seamless.After returning several times we decided an annual membership will be worth the investment for ourselves and more so for others who are benefiting daily from the programs offered. We embrace the vision and passion of spreading God’s joy as we hope to give more in the future through this delightful community outreach.Most recently we enjoyed the living nativity during the Christmas season. Thank you for setting this up, annually.Blessings to all!😀

Carlee Seeba

2024-04

What a wonderful place to take my granddaughter! This was our first visit and we both loved it.

Shannon Carpenedo

2023-09

Can’t say enough wonderful things about this magical place! We had a great stay via harvest hosts! Joy and her team rocked it! The animals were all so awesome, well cared for and it was such a fun experience to wander around and meet them all! If we are ever in the area again we will return to play!

kellyjo yaksich

2024-04

What a great facility! Lots of room to explore, wonderful picnic and playground area. Staff are so friendly, helpful and informative.

Mom Of Boys

2023-07

Such a great place to take your kids at any age. We’ve been going for years (old locations too) and my kids have loved every minute of every visit. I think they are farm kids at heart. I cannot tear them away from video games but if I say we are going to Scattered Joy, they’re all in!

Renee Lincoln

2023-09

Grands had a great time. They were intrigued with the tortoises. Great place to see so many different species of animals. Great helpful staff.

Amber Shuck

2024-04

Scatter joy acres is a relaxing and beautiful place. It is full of rescue animals and hope. Many animals can be loved on. It is definitely worth the trip!

Sarah Scholtes

2023-05

This place and the people who work there are amazing. They gave the back stories of the animals and information about them. My son didn't want to leave. Don't forget to say "hi" to Bubba and Pretty Boy!

George Turner

2021-05

This was probably the most amazing place I've been in my life. 26 acres of pure magic. From the numerous exotic animals to the helpful and friendly staff of volunteers. It's amazing we've never heard of this place.After talking to the spouse of the owner about the background of the ranch and their mission of providing therapeutic experiences for guests, I got to experience it first hand. My baby went from traumatized to see or pet any animals to overcoming his fears and actually enjoying his time.The entire family loved the experience and we plan on going back and even volunteering!

C S

2022-05

Love this place! So friendly and the animals are tame and come right up to my granddaughters to let them pet !! They have a wide variety of animals they have rescued and have also created a play area for the kids. While we were there they had two litters of puppies and brought them out to play with the kids too!! Great place for kids to experience farm life and for us to remember rescue animals are amazing!

Melissa W

2022-05

Its not everyday a person gets to pet a camel and a Porcupine! . They were nice and let me use a golf cart to take the handicapped person I care for around. It is a great experience. Prices are cheap and the volunteers are kind and helpful. I would highly recommend not only for students, special needs individuals, but even everyday folks will enjoy themselves!

Rachel Cartledge

2023-06

Scatter Joy Acres is a wonderful place to visit! I love the variety of animals and the opportunity to pet and interact with some of the animals! The staff is amazing also!

Sheri Meredith

2022-05

Nice place to go that is off the beaten path. Plenty of different animals to look at and most of them you can pet. All looked well taken care of. It is a sanctuary so some animals need rehabilitation but are doing well. It was a bit pricey, for me and my 5 yr old twins it was $35. The kids did seem to have a good time. At one point however, my niece grabbed what she thought was the top of a fence to look at a large turtle and it was a live electrical fence and immediately was shocked. There was no sign posted and when we found someone who worked there he just said oh. And confirmed it should be on during the day. We told him it needed to be marked with a sign. He did apologize. My SIL also told the front entrance workers as well.

Kim Orris

2020-05

What a fabulous place hidden in the city! You can go into the pens and pet all the animals except the ostrich. It was a great experience. The staff is super nice and friendly. It is a working farm so there are people out working as well. What a great family day experience.

A Ram

2024-04

Fun daytime play date for kids

Matt Wettengel

2019-05

Had a great time spending an evening at Scatter Joy Acres with friends! It was awesome getting to interact with so many of the animals and a super fun way to host a group of friends, with the bonfire and hay rack ride once it got dark! The owners were also really nice and helpful.

Primeira Dani

2023-07

Very disappointed with my personal experience. Kids had a blast, of course. Cute animals, oh so fun. As an adult, this is how it went:We arrived and parked, walked along some wired fence to what seemed to be the obvious entrance. It had a sign that said something like "ring the bell if no one is at the office". It didn't say where the office was. I didn't know where to get the tickets. Was this "office" where we get the tickets from? Was there where we were "the" office? But if there is no one in there, how will they hear the bell? Anyway, I pulled the rope / shook the bell. Nothing. Kids: me! Me! Me! Sure, go ahead. Kid one rang the bell. Nothing. Kid two rang the bell. Nothing. Kids three and four are older and uninterested and also understood we shouldn't be there ringing bells the whole day. We moved on.First thing we did was stopping at the closest thing, Jake's pond where we saw a lovely huge tortoise that was very friendly and came to greet us, very curious about us. After that, I spotted someone with a green shirt a few feet ahead, near the cow area. We moved there, and I mentioned how we had just arrived, and I was meaning to understand what to do upon arrival. I told how we rang the bell and that we had not paid yet but that we were gonna try again when exiting. He was very nice and understanding and said it was okay. Then he gave us a brief explanation of the rules.We kept seeing animals and fell in love with the Central American raccoons. Felt bad for a few of the goats, the kangaroos, and other animals that seemed miserable and desperate trying to find a shade to cool off and to hide from the touch of kids on their faces. The camels and baby cows (?) near them were practically devouring the fan, so hot it was. They couldn't be bothered to move one iota, and I don't blame them.Now, my heart broke when we saw the reindeer. These *Arctic* animals are native to freezing northern Asia and Europe. In North America, they are only found in northern Canada and Alaska. They do not migrate. They do not tolerate humidity. They hate warm weather. Now, 90-100F hot Summer Nebraska? Are you kidding me? The animals were hurdled IN A SHIPPING CONTAINER WITH *A FAN* AT THE "DOOR". Meanwhile, I got home to my A/C after walking on that place during a melting 95F day (on June! It gets way hotter on July! and sat and cried on how better than a reindeer I got it) 😭 I don't remember the part of the song where Old MacDonald had a reindeer. Or three. Or let them in a box with a floor fan.Surely, those were very big, industrial and strong fans. I experienced a bit of it when near the camels. But still, it was blowing hot AF air. I was hot, and I am a human. And I'm BRAZILIAN. Those are artic animals with thick dense fur meant to stand MINUS SEVENTY DEGREES. Not freaking 95F.Continuing.After the horrors, I called the girls and told them how absolutely unexcusable and awful it was to have snow animals on a hot environment without adaptations, and we left. They are kids, so they kind of missed the point, and that's ok, I guess. The two big ones understood, and I'm sure the little ones will grow to understand too.As we walked towards the exit, we were "greeted" by a green shirt tall blonde woman saying that we "forgot to pay" or something like that. And I said, "Yeah, no, we know we still have to pay. We are on our way out and ready to pay." Then we small talk chit-chat blabla. She escorted us into the place where we earlier rang the bell a couple of times and she told this woman named Dani how we rang the bell. To what she said: "No"... Excuse me?! Ok, I didn't say anything nasty because at that point, I just wanted to leave, so I was like "Yes, we did ring. I did (point to self), she did (point girl 1), she did (point girl 2)" She shook her head again. I just ignored her. Blonde woman in green asked if we liked it and I said "They liked it, they will definitely come back (well, with their parents, not with me)" - yes, I said like that LOL.I was glad it was over. Kids will like it. Animals don't. Adults won't.

Lauren

2024-04

Today we brought our tortoise Bowser to live at the Ranch. As heartbroken as I am, I simply could not feel better about finding Scatter Joy Acres and being blessed enough to give him a future there. I am so grateful. Abby, who helped get Bowser settled, really put me at ease. I am glad she was there to help. She handled it so well! She is amazing.I highly encourage you to visit Scatter Joy Acres and the animals who live there. If you do, please say hi to Bowser! :) It truly is a beautiful place.

Karla Nejdl

2023-05

Had my granddaughter's birthday there, the kids had so much fun! It was also very educational! Definitely going again.

A “Andrew Altman” A

2023-12

What a mission! What a place! What a gift from God. Everyone needs to support Scatter Joy Acres in anyway they can because what they are doing there is a special reminder to all of us about who we all are capable of being in our world. A spark of love for the reality of creation we all share. This is what Scatter Joy Acres allows us all to experience.God bless you Joy and continue your mission I will love watching it grow and shine. - Your Friend and seating companion from Jacksonville to Omaha.

First Row Fitness

2023-05

We came for the donkey’s and found so much more! Excellent experience and they were super accommodating to my mother who wouldn’t of made the walk to see the donkey’s. Who would of thought you’d be able to get close to and pet a young camel and young kangaroos! Such a warm and friendly staff! We’ll be back!

Patrick McCarroll (Pat)

2022-05

I could only select 5 stars if I could I would select more. This place is truly a hidden gem! We had my daughters 8th bday party last Saturday and I had no idea how amazing we were gonna be treated. Usually the anxiety and stress with parties with kids and tons of stuff to do is so hard but every staff member was truly amazing so respectful and over the top helpful!!! I honestly forgot what polite and just happy helpful staff looked like especially in today's world. This place definitely gave me some hope there are still good people ! I couldn't believe how they just gathered up all the kids and toured them around and taught them about the animals and were just so patient ,happy and just amazing with the kids! Not to mention the amount of help they were with my wife and I by letting us use and take rides on there golf cart to transport all the food and party stuff to the picnic area. They had the fire going and everything was spotless. Truly a pleasant and peaceful experience. I could go on and on but I'll let you experience it yourself!! Thank you so much scatter joy !! 100% will be back soon!!

Christian Robertson

2023-06

This was a great visit for the adults and the kids. It was nice to be able to get up close with the animals.

stephen adkinson

2024-01

I had four goats that I had to home while I moved out of state i gave her our contact info to stay in touch.i even donated money. She used my animals for attention to her cause. She told Me it was all donation. Now she saying we needed to send money every month to feed them. I feel I have been scammed.

LAURA HEDIEN

2023-05

What an incredible place and vibe! So well cared for. Where else can you pet a porcupine or kangaroo? Wonderful time here and a great woman running this little slice of heaven.

Kimber Warga

2023-11

Love this place. All the animals are so nice and friendly. The staff and owners are amazing!! Took my kiddo to see the foxes while we were there because he wanted to pet a fox. Simply amazing. I recommend everyone to go there.

Paul Harden

2024-04

Very great experience, all staff were friendly. The animals were mostly tame, and you were able to be in the pin with most of them.

niki t

2023-05

INCREDIBLE PLACE! we stayed here on AirBnB, and we were greeted by the sweetest cat. Very comfortable stay, and we woke to happy animal sounds. They have all kinds of amazing animals (ostrich, kangaroos, camels, reindeer, and farm animals galore!), and everyone is friendly. Definitely will be coming back!