BOONVILLE, Mo. – A few things come to mind when I think about Super Bowl Sunday. Football, funny commercials, and of course, the Budweiser Clydesdales.
Located in Boonville, Missouri, is a 340 acre state-of-the-art farm called Warm Springs Ranch, home to the Budweiser Clydesdales.
It is unlike any Budweiser facility you can visit. It is the starting point of the Budweiser Clydesdales teams; it is where the iconic Budweiser Clydesdales are born and raised.
"What we're trying to raise is the perfect Budweiser Clydesdale, which is the bay in color, the four white legs, the dark mane and tail," John Soto, breeding farm supervisor, said
On September 11, 2014, a Budweiser Clydesdale foal, named Memory, was born at Warm Springs Ranch. Memory's picture was shared on the KSDK Facebook page and the City of St. Louis fell in love.
Almost five months later, I was honored to be able to take a trip to the Warm Springs Ranch, which is currently closed for the winter, and take a tour of the facility while taking updated pictures of Memory.
Memory isn't the only famous Budweiser Clydesdale that calls the farm home. Hope, the star of the 2013 Budweiser Super Bowl ad "Brotherhood," also lives at Warm Springs Ranch.
The farm was established in 2008 and features a 25,000-square-foot breeding facility, veterinary lab, and 10 pastures, each with customized walk-in shelters and free-flowing water dispensers for the Budweiser Clydesdales.
Warm Springs Ranch opened for tours in 2009.
"It's the only place to me, knowing the other places, where you get a totally behind the scenes tour of what it takes from the time one of our Budweiser Clydesdales is actually conceived, to the time when he's out on the hitch, and I don't think you can get that anywhere else," Soto said.
Related: How do Clydesdales get their names?
During the guided tour you get to see the exam area, lab, foaling area, and the breeding room that make up the headquarters of the Budweiser Clydesdales breeding operation. You also get to meet, and interact, with the foals, mares, and stallions.
Warm Springs Ranch is currently closed for the winter, but will open back up for tours in March.
For more information, you can call 1-888-972-5933 or send an email to warmspringsranch@anheuser-bush.com.
