‘We NEED to be showing up at Freedom Acres Ranch. There is force in numbers’: Why are cowboys everywhere supporting this little-known Colorado farm?
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Every so often, a cause finds its moment online. And right now, a rural Colorado ranch is gaining traction. It's been quietly documenting its own troubles on social media since 2020.
This week, a veteran's rallying cry pushed the ranch into a much bigger spotlight.
‘This isn't a red or blue type of deal'
Veteran Chris Esparza (@chrisesparza63) shared a call to action urging his followers to support Freedom Acres Ranch, a farm in Yoder, Colorado. His video has since accumulated more than 538,000 views.
“Y'all go check out Freedom Acres Ranch,” Esparza said. “Go support their page.”
Esparza said “there's some stuff going on over there” that was “terrible.” He urged his viewers to boost and follow the ranch (@blackfarmlandmatters) in support.
“This isn't a red or blue type of deal,” Esparza said. “Y'all need to check that out for real.”
Esparza isn't the only one calling for internet users to support the ranch. Posts across social media call for people countrywide to “stand with [the ranch] and help raise awareness about the harassment they're experiencing.”
‘The system is being weaponized against me'
Courtney “CW” Mallery, one of the owners of Freedom Acres Ranch, runs the ranch's TikTok, to which Esparza directed his followers. On said account, Mallery posted a statement addressing racial discrimination that had been allegedly happening for years. He and his wife, Nicole Mallery, are Black. Places.US.com lists Yoder, Colorado as being 95.4% white.
“I'm just trying to hold it together,” Mallery began. “I'm being tested this week in more ways than one, and … I need the help and the support of the community to pull through this.”
Mallery alleged ongoing harassment on his property, including people “openly discussing stealing [his] livestock,” “breaking onto [his] property,” and “stalking [him] from north, south, east, and west.” He claimed the sheriff's office is “participating in it” and trying to intimidate him off parts of his own land.
He said supporters who visit the ranch have also been harassed, and that people have “[stolen] license plates” and followed him around town. Mallery closed by asking viewers to keep the ranch “in [their] prayers.”
@chrisesparza63 Type in freedom acres ranch in your search bar from your FYP and listen to CWs story if this doesn't make you mad then I don't know what will.
What's the deal with Freedom Acres Ranch?
According to Capital B News, the Mallerys bought their ranch in Yoder, in rural El Paso County, around 2020 “after being displaced by a hurricane.” Colorado Public Radio (CPR) reported the property is more than 1,000 acres, citing a sheriff's lieutenant.
According to CPR, the Mallerys almost immediately entered into a dispute with their neighbors, the Clarks, over a road easement. The easement sat on the Mallerys' property line but provided the only access to several neighboring, landlocked parcels. Both families filed numerous police reports and restraining order requests against each other over the course of several years.
The Denver Gazette reports that in May 2021, the Mallerys' ranch hand, Donaciano Amaya, was found dead. Courtney Mallery “said he believed Amaya's homicide was a ‘clear message' to the couple to get out of their home in Yoder.” In 2023, a DNA match led to the arrest of Kevin Armondo Chaparro-Macias “in connection with Amaya's death.” The sheriff's office “denied the Mallerys' claims of racial discrimination.”
More charges, more arrests, and alleged stalking
CPR also reported that in February 2023, the sheriff's office arrested the Mallerys and charged them with felony stalking against the Clarks. Officials said security cameras on the Mallerys' property were recording the Clarks in violation of state law, but the charges were later dropped.
In April 2026, Revolt TV reported the Mallerys experienced a drive-by shooting near their ranch. Advocacy group Color of Change has since launched a public campaign calling for a formal investigation into the El Paso County Sheriff's Office, characterizing the Mallerys' experience as “racialized harassment, intimidation, and systemic failures” of a “domestic terrorism” campaign.
The Mallerys' own GoFundMe alleges additional harassment, threats, and injustice. It accuses the El Paso County sheriff's deputy, Sergeant Emory Gerhart, of targeting the family with patrols. It also accuses Gerhart of being “complicit in the concerted effort to move [the] family off of their land.” The sheriff's office has consistently denied that race plays any role in how it's handled the case.
Buzz News has reached out to Esparza via TikTok comment, as well as the El Paso County Sheriff's Office and Freedom Acres Ranch via email.
