Come meet
the big birds.
Seven-foot ostriches. Curious emus. Red dirt paddocks thirty minutes off the highway. Real birds, real ranch, real Saturday morning.
Strange, enormous,
and oddly gentle.
Shaggy, fearless, and looking right at you.
Emus run at thirty miles an hour but choose to walk up slowly, tilt their head sideways, and blink at you like you're the strange one. Their feathers fall in double-shafts — soft as a paintbrush. Hold an emu egg in both hands and feel how the shell is green as old copper, thick as a coffee mug.
The largest bird alive. Sharing a fence with you.
An ostrich at full stride is a physics experiment — seven feet of bird, drumstick legs, and a kick that can dent a truck door. Up close, the plumes are impossibly soft. Their eyes are bigger than their brain, which explains a lot. Kids go quiet the first time one leans over the rail.
Ninety minutes.
You'll want two hours.
A guided walk through the paddocks with Dale or Marta Hargrove. No ropes, no velvet barriers. You stand at the fence, the birds come to you — or they don't, because they're birds and they decide.
Groups of four to twenty. Homeschool field trips welcome on weekday mornings. Private tours by arrangement.
Hollow thump in your palm
An emu egg weighs as much as a dozen chicken eggs and sounds like a clay drum when you tap it. We let every visitor hold one.
Softer than you'd believe
Ostrich plumes are used in Rolls-Royce factories to dust car bodies before painting. That's how soft. Run your fingers through a handful.
Red dirt under your boots
Millhaven clay turns copper in the afternoon light. You'll want to shake your shoes out on the drive home. That's a good sign.
When the bird blinks first
Emus have a third eyelid — a pale membrane that sweeps sideways. Kids always scream. Then they ask to see it again.
What's happening
at the ranch.
February at Roost
Emu Chick Season
Hatchlings visible in the brooder barn. Best window of the year for young kids.
Egg Harvest Demos
Saturdays 10am — watch Dale collect and grade eggs. Bring a carton home.
Homeschool Mornings
Tuesday & Thursday, 9–11am. Groups of 6–18. Book two weeks ahead.
Neighbors keep
coming back.
We drove out from Ridgecrest on a Wednesday and my kids are still talking about it two months later. The emu walked right up and tilted its head at my daughter. She cried happy tears.
Priya Nair
Homeschool parent · Ridgecrest
Found this on a whim and turned around on Route 18. Dale walked us through the whole paddock and let us hold an emu egg. Genuinely one of the better Saturday mornings I've had.
Marcus Webb
Saturday outing · Millhaven
I source emu eggs for the restaurant every season now. The quality is consistent, the Hargroves are honest people, and the eggs arrive clean. That's all I need.
Chef Solange Tran
Chef & sourcing buyer · Barstow
The Hargrove family has raised ostriches and emus on this land since 1994. Dale grew up on a cattle ranch two miles west. Marta studied animal behavior at Cal Poly Pomona. Between them, they've probably introduced more kids to giant birds than anyone in the county.
Painted Mesa Road,
Millhaven, CA.
Pull off Route 18 when you see the hand-painted sign. Gravel road, half a mile in. You'll hear the birds before you see them.
From Millhaven
8 min · 5.2 miTake Route 18 West to Painted Mesa Rd. Turn right at the hand-painted sign. Gravel road, ½ mile.
From Ridgecrest
28 min · 22 miUS-395 South to Highway 14, then west on Route 18. Look for the emu silhouette on the gate post.
From Barstow
34 min · 27 miI-15 North to Lenwood Rd, then CA-58 West. Exit at Painted Mesa junction — ranch is on the right.
Ranch Hours
Call Marta at (760) 555-0182 to book groups of 10+
Opens booking calendar · No payment required to reserve