Bob Beauprez is a former U.S. Representative from Colorado who now runs a Bison ranch.

Federal Newswire

Tell us what you sell at the ranch?

Bob Beauprez

We sell the finished product–meat. All of all the cuts. 

We started by building a little website and branding ourselves. We decided early on that we wanted to do it just like Mother Nature. Our Bison are all grass-fed and only grass-fed. [Their] one-ingredient diet is what they had 10,000 years before the white man showed up, and they do fabulously well on it.

Federal Newswire

How has your ranch fared through Covid?

Bob Beauprez

Covid had little impact on us. Fortunately, we're in a very remote part of Colorado. It's a pretty big county, but there are only about 1,500 people in it. We joke that there may be more moose [than people] in Jackson.

It's very remote. That probably assisted us at not having been heavily impacted by Covid, like everybody else. A lot of [other industries] were shut down, but we were able to still ship meat.

We ship it to Hawaii, Connecticut, Florida, Alaska. Most goes right here to Colorado. People pick it up at our home, right out of our freezer. [So we] got through Covid reasonably well.

Federal Newswire

What's the difference between being a rancher and a dairy farmer?

Bob Beauprez

Well there are some similarities and some skills that you transfer from one type of farming to the next–running equipment, building fences and arc welders, and being personally responsible. All of those things are transferable. 

But, you don't have to milk the buffalo. We've got to have more substantial fencing obviously for buffalo [because] they are still a wild animal [and are] extremely powerful.

I was around cattle, especially dairy cattle, pretty much my whole young adult life. I knew I could raise cattle. And I also knew that you could kind of change a cow's mind. With buffalo, you have to learn patience, and that's not something I was necessarily gifted with. So that was a lesson I had to learn. 

Federal Newswire

How do these experiences compare to being a member of Congress?

Bob Beauprez

I'll be forever grateful that I had real-life experiences and career experiences before I went to Congress. What I found in Congress, unfortunately, is that there's a lack of that kind of experience. Other than a few doctors and a whole bunch of lawyers, I don't remember very many people who had business experience.

I was on the Ways and Means Committee, and you'd think that that would be a place where people with a background in economics and business could relate to the folks back home. Even on that committee, there was a lack of hands-on real-life experience that you'd like to think you could draw from to make the heavy judgments that are required. 

Federal Newswire

You advocated for limited government when you were in Congress. Is that still the way to go? 

Bob Beauprez

That was one of my principal objectives I tried to articulate in 2006 and 2014 when I ran for governor. You don't have to be a history major or an expert in constitutional law to read the founding documents and realize that our founders–wisely, in my opinion–designed a limited federal government with a strong military and wide unified banking system, and that left everything else to the states.

For almost any problem in the public arena that comes up, states have figured out a lot quicker. They're more nimble. They have the ability to be more creative than the massive federal government, especially in this age.

We would do the federal government a big favor–we would do ourselves an even larger favor–if we had a rebirth of federalism.

Federal Newswire

Should education place a bigger emphasis on trade schools?

Bob Beauprez

[There should be] more emphasis on trade schools, charter schools…and apprenticeship. That's the way a whole lot of people like your father [and] my father learned, working side by side. 

Doing that, you build a tremendous amount of self-confidence along with some skills that you'll use again another day. 

Federal Newswire

What barriers face small businesses today?

Bob Beauprez

We're trying to regulate ourselves to death. The amount of regulation right now gets in people's way. 

We sold our bank–I grew it from that $3 million to about $450 million in a dozen years, and from one location to 13 locations. So we had a good run. While I was still in Congress, [my wife] Claudia decided we should sell the bank, especially over [the regulations]. This is before Dodd-Frank. This is before the big recession years. But she had the wisdom to put it on the market. She got a good price for it - a very good price. 

We couldn't run a bank today like we ran it then. The small banks are going away because of government regulation. The cost and the demands of trying to do business are so extreme that they simply can't function.

You see the small banks that always took care of Main Street, [and] always took care of those mom and pop businesses because they knew them. They went to church with them, they came to the grocery store, they raised their kids together. They know those people…It kept communities vital and small businesses alive.

Federal Newswire

I know you’ve written and published. What do you write about?

Bob Beauprez

I published a book in 2009 called A Return to Values. That was after a pretty tough election or two [for] Republicans. People were saying that the Republican Party was dead. I drafted what I called an Agenda for America that I thought was full of common sense. Unfortunately, almost all the issues I addressed–education, immigration, trade, our economy, cultural issues–are still looking for a solution.

I would say I have the same sense of optimism. I think that's ingrained in our DNA. Sometimes, and it sounds trivial, I really think that's part of what America is all about. I hope we haven't extinguished that.

The simple truth that I have learned along the way is, what you incentivize you get more of. [What] you penalize, you get less [of], and with the taxes that we have to pay, but especially the regulation burden and the hurdles that we put in front of people, those are penalties. Those are inhibitors. So it's not surprising that it's more difficult to do as my dad and granddad did.

Most people I grew up with believe we are in the name, the image and likeness of the God that created us. Most people are inherently good and will do the good thing if we give them enough room to do it.