70 years in business as one of Missouri's largest facilities, approximately 5000 Acres of trails, and supporting a wide variety riding and training styles.
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Kraus Farms provides lessons, camps, trail rides, and boarding.
03/08/2025
đ§ROAD WORK UPDATEđ§
The alternate route to Kraus Farms is now closed for road work. Please use the original route. There will be a sign on the road that says closed but Kraus Farms customers can go around the sign to access the ranch! We are updating as fast as we get the information. Thank you for your patience. Kraus Farms customers please join our text group for immediate updates! There are signs posted around the ranch showing how to sign up or you can email [email protected] to get the link.
03/06/2025
đˇââď¸ATENTIONđˇââď¸
Valley Park with be closing Hillsboro RD and Meramec Station RD for road work to improve the roads until further notice. You will have to use the alternate route to get to Kraus Farms. The directions are also on our website to view under contacts tab. Looking forward to the new roads in the meantime use alternate route! Thanks!
02/20/2025
âď¸Attentionâď¸ All lessons are cancelled and the ranch will be closing at 4 today due to weather conditions. Just 28 more days till spring, right? đŹ
02/19/2025
âď¸Attentionâď¸ All lessons are cancelled and the ranch will be closing at 4 today due to weather conditions.
02/18/2025
There will be no lessons today and the ranch will be closing at 3 pm today due to the weather conditions. Please stay warm out there!
02/17/2025
New Mommy and Me Camp dates! In order to get signed up please visit our website!
Kraus had a great time at the MOHJO year end award party!! Congratulations girls!
Makenna Jackman & Belle- champion in the state of over all points throughout the year in equitation x rails.
4th in the x rail hunter
Elsa Coleman & Luxor-
champion in the state of over all points throughout the year in long stirrup hunter & long stirrup equitation.
Ella Mill & Ultra-
3rd in the state of over all points throughout the year competing in childrenâs hunter pony, as well as 6th in Pony Hunters!
01/21/2025
âď¸Attentionâď¸we will be closing today at 4pm due to the weather. Please stay warm out there.
01/08/2025
Snow day for the horses! The cold weather is making them feel extra playful! Summer camp registration is now open. You can visit our website to sign up online. Please be patient with our website as when large volumes of people are on there it will be a little slow. If it is really slow please revisit at a different time. Thanks!
01/06/2025
âď¸Announcmentâď¸ We will be closing today at 2pm due to the weather! Hope everyone is staying warm out there!
01/05/2025
âď¸ATTENTIONâď¸We will be closing today at noon due to the weather! Please everyone be safe and stay warm out there!
01/02/2025
We say bye to 2024 and hello to 2025! What a great year it was and we are looking forward to this new year. Letâs make it the best one yet! We will be announcing summer camp registration enrollment soon so please keep a look out for the next post!
12/26/2024
Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had the most blessed day with friends and family! Meet Emmy! She is one of our baby calves from the Kraus Beef Farm.
12/18/2024
We were asked to memorializing 103 year-old Iwo Jima veteran by our very own Ben Kraus and Neffie at his funeral. The riderless horse is one of the most poignant symbols of military honor at a funeral. We are sorry for his families loss but thank him for his service!
12/13/2024
Holiday camps coming up!! Check out our dates below. Please sign up on our website!
Happy thanksgiving!! đŚ I hope everyone had a wonderful day with family and friends. We are extra thankful for our employees and great boarders!
11/10/2024
After a long busy weekend the stall horses are officially settled back at the ranch and the mares are expected to arrive today. We appreciate everyoneâs help!
11/08/2024
Itâs definitely not fun for us when it floods but I think the horses sure enjoy it! We were prepared for the worst but fortunately only a few barns were impacted. These guys will be back at Kraus farm soon but in the mean time they sure are having fun at Kraus Farms Beef ranch. Thank you to all of the people that helped us evacuate and made it such a smooth process.
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Snow day for the horses! The cold weather is making them feel extra playful! Summer camp registration is now open. You can visit our website to sign up online. Please be patient with our website as when large volumes of people are on there it will be a little slow. If it is really slow please revisit at a different time. Thanks!
After a long busy weekend the stall horses are officially settled back at the ranch and the mares are expected to arrive today. We appreciate everyoneâs help!
Kraus Farms began business in 1936 as 66 Riding Stables, twenty miles from St. Louis and accessible to city cowboys by the famous Highway 66. Ben Kraus and his business partner offered hay rides, boarding and rental horses on 200 leased acres that included the property now owned by Valley Mount Ranch as well as the present Kraus Farms property. Ben lived at the stables while his wife Freida and their eight children, Shirley, Gene, Darwin, Gerry, Laverne, Norita, Dorothy Lee and Sheila remained in town. Ben was a talented promoter, and 66 Riding Stables was soon providing hayrides for more than 100 people each night, using 12 wagons and as many as 15 teams of horses. Area farmers were often pressed into service with their teams on busy nights. The same horses were rented out as saddle horses during the day, with guides provided for trails through 1000 acres of leased woods to the east of the ranch, on what is now Forest 44 Conservation Park. The business soon allowed for Benâs family to move from town to a frame farmhouse just north and west of the existing barns. The family made-do without electricity or inside facilities, heating water and cooking on wood stoves and bathing in the creek.
Ben Kraus, his sons and ranch hands broke all the horses used at 66 Riding Stables, maintaining a herd of 25 to 30 horses. Hay for the operation was grown in the bottom lands on the other side of what is now I44 and along the Meramec River, now covered by the land fill and industry. The hay was put up loose using the same horses ridden by renters. Ben also grew the grains the ranch converted to feed with their own mill. The hay and grain fed not only the ranch horses, but also the rodeo stock â Brahma bulls, calves, and steers. The popular holiday rodeos of the 1940âs attracted large crowd to stadium-style grandstands and a red, white, and blue arena with eight bucking stalls, located on the site of the present Valley Mount arena.
All the Kraus âkidsâ took part in the rodeos and shows as trick and Roman riders, trick ropers, rodeo contestants, barrel racers, and livestock managers. Norita and Dorothy Lee went on to championship seasons as barrel racers.
Ben Kraus also organized the famous Firemanâs Fund Rodeos and Parades in downtown St. Louis, complete with bands, floats, clowns, and as many as 200 horses. Many dignitaries and movie stars visited the ranch during these years, in town for the Firemanâs Benefit and looking for a relaxing ride. Hollywood visitors included Joel McCrae, Andy Devne, Scott OâConners (the Rifleman), Gene Autry and Debbie Reynolds. The ranch was also the site of midget auto races!
All the Kraus âkidsâ helped to run the ranch, but Darwin soon became Benâs âright-hand manâ and took over ranch operations after his military service in the 1950âs and his fatherâs death in 1961. Darwin had married his wife Gerry in 1955 when he was 26 and she was 19. The ranch played a part even in the courtship, since the two met through a horse owned by Gerryâs brother and boarded at 66 Riding Stables. Gerry found it hard to resist the combination of Darwin, horses, and moonlight rides! The couple had eight children: Mathew (Dusty), Theresa (Terry), Jay Andrew, Phillip, Timothy, Rebecca (Becky), Sara and Katherine (Katy) â all Biblical names. Darwin and Gerry credit their faith for their strong family relationships and many happy years managing Kraus Farms. Their strong faith helped the family weather pressures from changes in the community around the ranch, the construction of I44 in the late 1950âs, changing politics, property access issues and destructive floods. The flood of 1982 destroyed three buildings and the hay crop and was followed by an equally destructive flood in 1983, but brought the opportunity to purchase the land south of I44. Because other parts of the leased property had been previously sold, Darwin was able to separate the property with about 30 acres remaining for Darwinâs boarding facility, renamed Kraus Farms, and 110 acres going to other family members and becoming Valley Mount Ranch. Darwin acquired additional property during the 1980âs, bringing Kraus Farmsâ acreage up to the current 50. The boarding facility increased from 23 stalls to the existing eight barns, and hay fields were purchased in Pacific.
The 1970âs brought residential and industrial development to the area, along with new customers and new pressures. In the late 1980âs Kraus Farms risked losing access to the leased property now known as Forest 44 Conservation Area, but the property was saved from developers by environmental groups and the Open Space Council. Kraus Farms remains a vital partner in maintaining access and usage of the area for riders. Sons Jay and Tim remained active in the family business, with help from all their siblings. Jayâs wife Traci and children and Timâs wife Chris and children consider the ranch a second home, as do many cousins. In 1986 Darwin turned the business over to Jay and Tim, enjoying with wife Gerry and mother Frieda the privilege of watching their grandchildren and great-grandchildren play and learn at Kraus Farms â the fourth generation!
70 years in business as one of Missouri's largest facilities, approximately 5000 Acres of trails, and supporting a wide variety riding and training styles.
