By Jim Bret Campbell
Between the weather, markets and regulations, running a yearling operation isn’t easy. Throw in the added complication of dealing with hikers, bicyclists and naturalists, and it takes a special set of skills to manage an intensive rotational grazing system and the public.
Bob and Kristen Welch manage to do both. Bob and Kristen lease “open space” land owned by Douglas County in Colorado. Once part of the famed Greenland Ranch owned by the Gaylord family, the ranch was purchased by John Malone of Silver Spur Ranches. Malone is one of the largest landowners in the United States and has a passion for maintaining open spaces.
Malone donated a section of the ranch between Colorado Springs and Castle Rock to the county. Unlike many urban centers, though, Douglas County adopted a philosophy of using grazing to improve the range while also providing recreational opportunities for the public. They found the right partners in Bob and Kristen to lease the country.
NRHC Director Jim Bret Campbell (left) recently toured Bob Welch through the historic park in preparation for Welch’s new role as editor of Ranch Record, the official magazine of the Ranching Heritage Association. Welch, who is both a journalist and a rancher, will continue to live and ranch in Colorado while working remotely with the NRHC. (Photo by Adrian Hawkins)
“We try to do a good job for the resource,” Bob said. “We monitor all the areas of the ranch and do grass and soil sampling. We also monitor how much carbon we are able to store in these grasslands.”
Of course, dealing with the public can have its challenges. Gates are left open—whether on purpose or by accident—and there are constant questions about the need for grazing cattle in public open spaces. Yearlings get broke to bright-colored backpacks and cyclists, but it’s not without some hazards.
“I guess the most interesting encounter was one hiker who wanted to get in touch with nature, and he decided the best way to do that was to take all his clothes off,” Bob said. “Another time, we were driving some yearlings through a pasture and they just kind of flowed around a hiker on the trail. Kristen stopped and apologized, and the guy just laughed and said he was out there all the time and even had gotten to know some of the yearlings by sight.”
Not all the encounters are positive, of course, but Bob and Kristen relish the opportunity to interact with the public and share about ranching as they go about handling yearlings during the summer grazing season. They partner with Bob’s brothers, Andy and Welsey, on the cattle, and Bob and Kristen are uniquely qualified to run a public-facing operation. Bob grew up on a ranch outside of Calhan, Colo., but earned a degree in journalism and worked in the communications industry in various roles before getting back into the cattle business. Kristen studied agricultural education and taught at Elbert, Colo. The partnership between them, the county and the public just works.
The Early Years
Bob is the son of Ranching Heritage Association directors John and Bonnie Welch, who both grew up in Midland, Texas. After they married, the couple moved to Colorado where John had a job with CattleFax, a marketing information service that offices out of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association headquarters in Denver. John ran a few cows on the side on leases around Colorado. Eventually, though, the Welches decided to start running cows full-time when they were able to lease the ranch at Calhan.
While the ranch is just east of the ridge that parallels Interstate 25 through Colorado Springs, it’s metaphorically a world away.
“I guess we moved out there when Bob was about 6,” John said. “It was just a special thing to get to have them out there with us and working with us. By the time Bob was 13, I quit hiring extra people because the boys were such good help.”
Bob grew up on the ranch. Through high school he played sports, participated in a variety of clubs and all rode cutting horses with his brothers at high school rodeos. When it came time to graduate, Bob started looking in different directions.
“At the time, I just didn’t think ranching was for me,” he said. Bob decided to major in journalism at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. “As much as anything, I was just better at writing than I was other subjects, so I went that direction.”
“I think part of it had to do with taking him with me to work at NCBA,” John added. “He met the longtime communications director there, and Bob just took to it.
“He had always loved to read, and he loves the written word. We were tickled to death that he found something to be passionate about.”
“He had always loved to read, and he loves the written word. We were tickled to death that he found something to be passionate about.”
Paying His Dues
After graduating from CSU and marrying Kristen after she completed her student teaching, Bob went to work in 1999 as public relations coordinator for the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association headquartered in Colorado Springs.
Bob wrote articles for Pro Rodeo Sports News and also promoted events by writing press releases and other promotional materials. His primary role was to provide all the background material for a company named Winnercomm that filmed and produced rodeo for television on ESPN and other networks.
“It was always a challenge when somebody new won,” Bob said. “I would have to track down information on them and get it to the production team.”
After a couple of years on the rodeo road, Bob decided it was time to look for another challenge. He went to work for Winsor Publishing, a small publishing company that focused on horse industry titles. Bob served as editor of The Trail Less Traveled, which focused on natural horsemanship and clinicians like Buck Brannaman.
It wasn’t long before Winnercomm came calling and needed an associate producer to handle their rodeo production. Bob hit the road again providing background material for the production crew and writing scripts for the on-air talent who did the play-by-play and color commentary for the broadcasts. Staying on the rodeo trail allowed Bob to keep writing for another Winsor publication called Spin to Win.
Winsor Publications eventually merged with the company that owned American Cowboy magazine. Bob was more than happy to step off the rodeo circuit and become group editor of American Cowboy and Spin to Win. Bob oversaw content for both magazines for five years and led them to multiple awards while going head-to-head with magazines like Western Horseman.
After five years the publishing group was purchased by Active Interest Media, which featured magazine titles, web sites and events from hiking and biking to boating. The new owners determined they had enough titles in the Western space and decided to sunset American Cowboy. The company continues to maintain americancowboy.com, which still features many of Bob’s personal stories as well as stories he edited.
“I could have stayed on,” Bob said, “but it was time for me to move on and do something different.”
Although ranching might not have been the right choice out of high school, by this time Bob had already started building a small herd of cows on smaller leases around their hometown of Franktown, Colo. He also partnered with his family in Welch Cattle Co. running cows in Texas, Oklahoma and Montana. The three brothers also have a partnership that focuses on stocking yearlings on wheat pasture and grass.
“I was looking for the next opportunity,” Bob said, “and my farrier was here shoeing horses. He mentioned that Douglas County was looking to lease about 15,000 acres of the old Greenland Ranch. I just went and talked to them.”
A Good Trade
Unlike many areas of the West, Douglas County was interested in a partnership that would benefit the land, the county citizens and keep the land in production.
With their backgrounds in practical, grounded cattle production, as well as their experience in dealing with the public and communications, Bob and Kristen forged a good working relationship with Douglas County leaders and the community.
John and Bonnie Welch (right) and their three boys (from left), Wesley, Andy and Bob, make their living in the cattle and horse industry. (Photo by Ross Hecox)
“We might not impact hundreds of thousands of people,” Bob said, “but we consider it an opportunity to help educate the public on what we do. The positive experiences we have far outweigh the negative, and we take pride in taking care of the land and managing in a way that is good for the resource.”
Bob’s father, former president and CEO of the historic Spade Ranches in Texas, realizes the challenge his son has in partnering with the county and the community. “Not every rancher could take on the challenge of running yearlings in partnership with a government entity and dealing with an urban public,” John said. “Bob and Kristen make it work.”
Bob also took on another challenge as producer of a documentary featuring his great-uncle, famed cutting horse trainer and rancher Buster Welch, and the development of the cutting horse.
Bob has spent the last three years writing the script, conducting interviews and guiding the production crew to tell the story of how the cutting horse developed from the roundup grounds to the modern competition arena.
Entitled “The Cut,” the documentary made its debut during the National Cutting Horse Association World Championship Futurity last December and is being promoted to several film festivals and streaming platforms.
Bob’s next challenge is taking the reins as editor of Ranch Record, the official magazine of the Ranching Heritage Association. Ranch Record features stories of ranches across the country as well as ranching history and highlights from the National Ranching Heritage Center.
Bob and Kristen will continue to run yearlings on the Douglas County open space and cows on smaller leases on the front range of Colorado from their homebase in Franktown. Their son, Tate, graduated from high school in Elbert, Colo, and plans on attending a Bible school in Florida. Their daughter, Allie, is a freshman at Elbert.
“I’m excited to work with the NRHC staff and the leadership of RHA,” Bob said. “I’m looking forward to maintaining the excellence of the Ranch Record.”
“I’m a little jealous,” John said, “of the niche that Bob has been able to carve out for himself.
“I’m proud that he got back in the cow business. He loved cowboying growing up, and he still does. He also loves the written word. He grew up loving the history of ranching. He read all the books by J. Evetts Haley and J. Frank Dobie and authors like that.
“Maybe just as important as getting the history right,” John added, “Bob tends to think a little deeper than many authors and editors. Probably without even thinking about it, he also tends to tie his faith into his writing.”
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