April 12, 2018
From the moment Kenny McElroy saw Big Black buck, he knew right then and there he wanted that bull.
“I actually followed that bull through his 3-year-old year. He was winning quite a few derbies,” said McElroy of the bull Big Black who would end his 3-year-old season by winning 2017 Reserve Champion in the ABBI Classic Finals. “I made up my mind that that bull was coming to Ohio.”
Mickey Robinson was hauling Big Black and brought him to Las Vegas to compete at the ABBI Finals. Robinson did not have a spot for his bull in the American Heritage Derby, the competition for 3-year-olds, so he put Big Black in the ABBI Classics Wild Card competition.
“Big Black was up against 4-year-olds in the Classic Wild Card,” McElroy told us. “He earned himself a spot in the ABBI Classic Finals.”
In the Classic Finals, held in Round 1 and Round 4 of the PBR Finals, Big Black was competing against the best 4-year-olds in the world. With first and second round scores of 88.2 and 89.2 respectively, Big Black came in second place to Tommy Julius/D&H Page’s High Test by less than a point. The big black 3-year-old from the Wild Card beat out bulls who had spent the entire 2017 season competing in the PBR’s ABBI Classic events.
“I like big bulls,” laughed McElroy, who owns Mississippi Hippy, one of the biggest bulls to ever buck in the PBR. “Big Black is big and stout.”
So, McElroy told Mickey Robinson he’d buy him.
“I told Mickey that if he ever wanted to sell that bull, I’d buy him. And then, there he was in the sale at the ABBI Finals.”
McElroy talked to Joe and Nina Webb, who had partnered with K Bar C on younger bulls, and they decided they wanted to partner on Big Black.
Big Black was the high selling bull in the 2017 ABBI Premiere Sale.
“He cost us a little bit of money,” confessed McElroy. “Good bulls cost money and I made sure this one came to Ohio.”
McElroy thinks Big Black is the total package.
“He is very athletic. He’s light on his feet. And he’s got so much power. He uses his size for longer jumps. That’s one of the assets I like most about him.”
McElroy predicts a bright future for Big Black.
“As a 4-year-old, he’ll be in the short rounds, for sure.”
And it appears that as the 2018 season rolls on, Big Black will make that prediction come true. With highly impressive Classic wins in Oklahoma City with a score of 90.6 and Little Rock with a score of 89.6, the big black bull that went to Ohio is showing his potential.
“Big Black is one of the most consistent Classic bulls right now. He is just going to do his job,” McElroy told us. “He absolutely loves everything he does. He runs up the alley and loads himself. He doesn’t fight the chute. He stands good. Riders can jump down on him and do what they have to do.”
When asked about how Big Black handles the tight ropes and the strength of the riders in the PBR, McElroy just laughs.
“That bull doesn’t care who’s on his back. He’s got a job to do. The tighter the rope, the ranker he gets. That’s a plus for me!”
Another plus for McElroy is that Big Black is an easy bull to get along with.
“He’s a joy to handle,” McElroy said of his champion bull. “He takes everything in stride. “He hauls good. You put him on a trailer and in an hour, he’s laying down resting”
McElroy emphasizes the fact that he gives Big Black, and all his bulls, their space.
“I don’t haul bulls together. Black has his individual slot. Bulls get testy in confined spaces. I’m old school. If you’ve got a $100,000 bull, it’s stupid to have him get hurt in a fight. The time for the bulls to be friends is when they are out on 6 to 10 acres and not in an 8 X 8 pen.”
A big bull like Mississippi Hippy, McElroy expects Big Black to come close to Mississippi Hippy’s 2200 pounds. But Big Black is more of an athlete.
“I’ve been around a lot of big bulls. Big Black is an amazing athlete. There’s no doubt that bull loves to go. You let him out in the alley and he’ll kick up and snort. He’s a big play baby.”
That play leads to plenty of exercise when Big Black is at home on the ranch.
“He can be ornery,” said McElroy. “You let him out to play and he doesn’t care if it’s blowing snow or what the weather is.”
McElroy has a 5 acres of pasture field fenced off and Big Black goes out there to exercise.
“He’ll literally run 3 full laps of that field. He’s the only bull I’ve ever had that runs himself to get his work in.”
For Big Black, it’s 3 laps and done.
“After 3 laps, he’ll stop and nibble around. Then he’ll meander back to the barn, done.”
As a sire, McElroy expects good things from Big Black.
“We are always hoping and looking for that sire to do things in our program. I am honestly very excited to breed to this bull who is out of Showtime. I’ve never been around a bull with this level of potential all the way across the board. I don’t think it matters what cows we breed to. I look for him to be a producer.”
by Terry Lidral
for Bucking Stock Talk
.
Author: Terry Lidral
Terry Lidral is a western writer/journalist who lives in Idaho. She is the publisher and editor of the online magazine Bucking Stock Talk and the online magazine Western Living Journal. Her publishing credits include Storyteller for Real American Cowboy Magazine, writing feature articles for Humps N Horns Magazine as well as a wide variety of national and international web sites, historical magazines and news publications. She is known for her "up close and personal" profiles of celebrities and industry moguls such as NPR's Tom Bodett; PBR's Wiley Petersen and D.H. Page, PRCA's Sammy Andrews, Cindy Rosser and Julio Moreno to name a few. She has been applauded for her way of making a personal connection between her readers and her subjects. She indulges in her love of rodeo by serving as an associate board member for the Caldwell Night Rodeo. She is also an accomplished trainer and handler in dog agility. Her shelties Amelie and Milo are titled in NADAC, USDAA and AKC.
Wonderful story about a bull with a great future from a guy who really knows his stuff!