The Suson Farm in Fenton, Missouri

[Night Sky 855]

The Suson Farm is located in Fenton, South St.Louis County, Missouri and it is operated by the County Parks Department. 

The complex consists of several barns, enclosures, fields, a wallow and a chicken coup. 

The residents include full sized horses, ponies, donkies, sheep, goats, chickens, turkeys, pigs and ducks and geese. 

The place is free to visit and feels like an Equestrian embassy, here in the human world. Of course these are not cartoon animals. But they seem very well taken care of, used to being around the public and I was able to have some very therapeutic (and badly needed) interactions with them. 

Please enjoy the pictures.

[Bairro Moetriet Vagrant 1,694]

Have you Seen any cute mares?

[Night Sky 855]

15 minutes ago, Bairro M Vagrant said:

Have you Seen any cute mares?

Cocoa is very fetching, she's pictured above looking out of her stall into the yard. She was born in 1998! So she's a young lady. She's seen some changes in her time. 

[SharpWit 2,845]

I used to work for a city run farm that operated during the summer. We were the legacy of a full sized zoo that used to operate there, and through that continuation had provided care for many animals, and an educational outlet for the public. It was my dream job honestly, and I'm proud to have been a part of through to its 100 years of operation.

It was hampered by a multitude if things. The addition of red tape over the years which limited some of the animals we could have and means of interaction.

Almost no means for advertising promotion on or offline. We would get a snippet in the paper and one or two Facebook posts to announce that we were open for the season. That meant if you didn't know about the farm, you really only found out by stumbling across it, and it's tucked away within a park behind some trees at the bottom of a hill, so you really only notice as you're leaving.  Also, only being open during the summer meant plenty of regular park goers were used to ignoring the closed space the rest of the year, so they could easily pass by if it wasn't on their mind.

The city was over budget and had accumulated quite a bit of debt, so they started shutting down smaller programs and slapping bandaids on issues. We even lost our Park Rangers last year.

We had barely gotten approval to operate for another season. Then covid happened, which was the perfect excuse to shut down so much.

I'm hopeful it will make a return someday. The buildings are all intact, receiving somewhat regular maintenance and a few major updates to signage, fencing and plumbing. Someone has a plan for it, but there's no available timeline.

[Night Sky 855]

2 hours ago, SharpWit said:

I used to work for a city run farm that operated during the summer. We were the legacy of a full sized zoo that used to operate there, and through that continuation had provided care for many animals, and an educational outlet for the public. It was my dream job honestly, and I'm proud to have been a part of through to its 100 years of operation.

It was hampered by a multitude if things. The addition of red tape over the years which limited some of the animals we could have and means of interaction.

Almost no means for advertising promotion on or offline. We would get a snippet in the paper and one or two Facebook posts to announce that we were open for the season. That meant if you didn't know about the farm, you really only found out by stumbling across it, and it's tucked away within a park behind some trees at the bottom of a hill, so you really only notice as you're leaving.  Also, only being open during the summer meant plenty of regular park goers were used to ignoring the closed space the rest of the year, so they could easily pass by if it wasn't on their mind.

The city was over budget and had accumulated quite a bit of debt, so they started shutting down smaller programs and slapping bandaids on issues. We even lost our Park Rangers last year.

We had barely gotten approval to operate for another season. Then covid happened, which was the perfect excuse to shut down so much.

I'm hopeful it will make a return someday. The buildings are all intact, receiving somewhat regular maintenance and a few major updates to signage, fencing and plumbing. Someone has a plan for it, but there's no available timeline.

I don't know how well Suson Farm is doing, but it kind of matches the description of this place where you worked. We went cause my brother was researching local equine therapy, and this place came up. I'd never heard of it. It's a couple buildings tucked away in an obscure part in a remote sector of the county. And they never advertise it. 

It's a shame these kinds of programs don't get bigger budgets, less red tape and more presence in the media. It does folks good to go to the farm once and awhile.

[Retro*Derpy 3,328]

I was kinda "wowed" when I saw this, I've been to Fenton several times and when I was young we went to this farm. I don't remember much about it anymore, just that we went in the fall and the scenery was so pretty. 

[Night Sky 855]

4 hours ago, Retro*Derpy said:

I was kinda "wowed" when I saw this, I've been to Fenton several times and when I was young we went to this farm. I don't remember much about it anymore, just that we went in the fall and the scenery was so pretty. 

It's a nice park, with a water feature as well. Everyone was so happy and full of life, perfect day. I imagine the fall must have been enchanting at the farm.