| A farm is being restored along the banks of Fountain Creek. | | Print | |
Rancher passes ‘the bug’ to sonA farm is being restored along the banks of Fountain Creek. 
CHIEFTAIN PHOTO/CHRIS McLEAN Bob Barr, a longtime Pueblo veterinarian, is retiring to devote more time to his farm and ranch operations. Behind him is a barn that will be used to store equipment, one of several projects he and his son Justin have undertaken to restore their farm on Overton Road. Posted: Wednesday, May 5, 2010 12:00 am As a fifth-generation rancher, Bob Barr knows that staying in agriculture can be an uphill battle. It’s a “bug” that keeps him going. “My son, Justin, has the same bug I have,” Barr said, looking over new buildings and cattle pens that they’ve built together on Overton Road next to Fountain Creek. “There’s not too many people who have that bug anymore. I don’t think people care where their food comes from as long as they can get that food cheap.” Barr, 59, intends to throw himself into ranching after retiring — well, cutting back to one day a week — from Mesa Veterinary Clinic. His daughter Tiffany, 27, also a veterinarian, is buying out his interest in the clinic. Meanwhile, Justin, 25, returned home after graduating from Fort Hays State (Kan.) University with a bachelor’s degree in construction management, which is not a booming field at the moment. Neither is agriculture, but it may provide a good opportunity for Justin, who is living in the house on the farm and will be married in July. A standout place-kicker for the Fort Hays football team after shining in the same role for the Pueblo County Hornets, Justin said he’s now learning what real work is, toiling long hours to prepare the fields and take care of the cattle. “I normally have a couple of high school kids who come out to help,” Justin laughed, apparently between several chores. “But yeah, it’s been a lot of work.” This spring, father and son changed the landscape along Fountain Creek slightly by building a hay shed, commodities building and equipment barn on the farm along Overton Road about 10 miles north of Pueblo, one of three places owned by the family. The Barr family farm, complete with 125 ewes, is further north on Overton Road, and they own a large ranch south of Pueblo. “We’ve had some quality time to work together on the farm,” Barr said. “I couldn’t have done any of this without Justin.” The Fountain Creek farm is being put back into alfalfa hay after the damaging floods of 1997 and 1999. The buildings, green fields and crisp white fences on the cattle pens stand out like an oasis against the relatively dry land surrounding them. The Barrs are even talking about putting some of the land into vegetables. “There used to be a lot of vegetables, cabbage and broccoli, grown on the creek, although it hasn’t happened in my time,” Barr said. “It was a generation ago.” Since the mid-1980s, Barr has used the farm, part of the Steele family homestead from the 1860s, as a breeding ground for replacement heifers for his cattle herd, about 500 mother cows strong. There have been ups and downs. In 1997, there was a blizzard, a flood on Fountain Creek and a drought on the ranch south of Pueblo all in the same year. The cattle pens were moved from the river bottom after the damaging 1999 flood took out bridges above and below the Barrs’ farm. “We lost about 30 acres of ground in 1999,” Barr said. Some of the herd were shipped out during the drought of 2002, brought back in 2004, cut back again in 2005 and brought back over the past few years. Farming on the Fountain has its own challenges. “The ground is tight — heavy adobe. There’s a shorter season. The water’s inconsistent, and the melt-off is very fast,” Barr said. “But if you do it right, you can manage the water.” But the rewards of farming and ranching — that bug — keep Barr interested. Barr decided to donate a conservation easement on the 650-acre farm through Colorado Open Lands in order to preserve it for both agriculture and wildlife. Cranes, geese, turkeys and elk call the farm home. “I had mixed emotions about it,” Barr said. “I didn’t want it to develop, and wanted to find a way to keep it farming and in the family.” He also has mixed feelings on plans to build a trail along Fountain Creek, one of several projects being considered by a new district formed to improve the creek. On the one hand, it exposes a tranquil, serene stretch of the Fountain to possible abuse, but it also would allow others to get in touch with the land around them. “I don’t want to be selfish about the blessings of this place. It’s meant a lot to us,” Barr said. Barr and his wife Barbara have two other children, Shawna and Heather, and he worries about how the inheritance tax will affect the children's wealth down the road. Like other ranchers near urban areas, he faces the problem of owning large tracts of land which add to the value of an estate but provide little in the way of cash flow. “Most people can’t imagine how much land you have to have to make a living on,” Barr said. “It gets tougher every year. If they don’t do something about the death tax, only the wealthy will be able to farm.” Barr grew up on a ranch in Wyoming, but was discouraged early on from taking over his parents’ place. “My dad saw that farming was just going to get tougher,” Barr said. “He wanted me to go into something that could support a family.” At Colorado State University, while studying to become a vet, he met Barbara and they were married. They settled in Pueblo County, where Barbara’s father, Jack Meshing, was the activities director for District 70 schools. “I was looking for a job and came here to see her folks,” Barr said. Through the years, the family has raised livestock for 4-H projects and fairs. He doesn’t know if Justin will be able to buy the farm and continue in his footsteps, but for now they’re forging ahead together through another season. “The neatest thing has been being able to spend time with my kids,” Barr said.
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