Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery, Branson

It’s a cool place to visit. You can feed the fish here ( don’t forget to take quarter dollar with you or you can get it from reception). Seeing dam was so cool. There are few live snakes. Kids would enjoy. It is always interesting to study about wild animals.

Free- educational- family friendly- nice staff- open air- adventure day If you're looking for a free family day event to add to your itinerary, this is a good weather friendly place. The river next to the hatchery adds to the learning environment. You'll see fishermen choosing their flies wisely to trick the trout. It's just a wholesome environment.

Five minutes down the road from the Table Rock Dam/Dewey Short Visitor Center is the fish hatchery where Missouri Fish & Wildlife raises brown and rainbow trout—which aren’t native to Missouri--to stock Missouri’s lakes and streams. They opened in 1958 and can raise up to 800,000 trout each year, then release them when they reach 12 inches in approximately 15-18 months. They have tours every hour on the weekdays, but the 8-minute video there is informative, too. You can feed the fish there and watch thousands of them go crazy when you do. There are signs and employees to give lots of interesting facts throughout the hatchery. They also have several amphibians and reptiles there, including a two-headed Western Rat Snake! Plan to spend at least an hour there.

So, I came here with my family and extended family with included 5 kids and 3 parents. As much as I really wanted to like this place, we all found a little boring. After about 20 minutes, all the kids were ready to go. The hatchery did have educational elements, but they were not curated and only consisted of 1 or two small kiosks and very small main visitors center. Mask mandates were not being enforced in case that matters to you) There was a small aquarium but it was only about 9 feet-ish (approx) in viewing length so adults and children were all in very close proximity to view it. After about 7-8 minutes, we were done seeing everything that was of interest in the small visitors center, so we went outside to see the actual hatcheries. Once we walked outside, were greeted with a beautiful view of a dam and the some caged fences pool where the trout are raised from minos to larger fish. Other than reading some scattered informational plaques and paying 25 cents to feed trout, there was literally nothing else to do. I think a curated tour would have awesome. I love the fact that this hatchery tries to educate kids and adults on raising trout, I just wish there has been more to see or do. With that said, visiting here is all free, so I’m not complaining in any way, I’m just giving you my opinion on our experience here. Your experience here might differ then mine so definitely check it out.

We visited with our kids, 7 & 8.5, and they loved it. It was only about a 25 minute visit but fun & free, besides the 25 cents for fish food :) The staff was friendly and knowledgeable.