Bucking Bull Business – From Sale Barn Beginnings

Back in the day, if you wanted a bucking bull, you went to the sale barn.  Good bucking bulls were the luck of the draw and great bucking bulls, depending on the way one looked at it, were accidents or dreams come true.  David Bailey got his luck of the draw at a dispersal sale.  He bought the bull, a little black muley he named Chainsaw, to buck at rodeos. Chainsaw bucked real hard and earned a great big reputation.  Bailey went on to use that bull to start what was to become one of the premiere breeding programs in the bucking bull industry.

The ProRodeo Hall of Fame bull Bodacious was one of those auction accidents who was passed off and kicked around until he ended up with Sammy Andrews.  He turned out to be Andrews’ dream bull that gave the bull riders nightmares – and plenty of concussions. Those Bodacious genetics have been much sought after over the past twenty some odd years and have become a proven and successful part of the bucking bull business.

When Jackie Ratjen bought the bull he called Catfish from a sale barn in 1997 to try in the bucking arena, he had already started working on the genetics of his breeding line.  He was looking for an outcross to the daughters of his great Original JR.  It was still common to get bucking bulls from the sale barn and Ratjen liked the look of the black and white paint bull whose genetics went on to .into some of the finest bulls from the Ratjen program – and beyond.

The bucking bull industry has come a long way from the random genetics picked up at the sale barn. Through careful selection of specific qualities in these sale barn bulls, breeding lines were developed based on goals and preferred traits that became a foundation for what has come to be known as the American Bucking Bull Breed.  With modern technology in reproduction and collection, there are countless choices and an endless variety of combinations of genetics.  These genetics are available to not only the leaders in the bucking bull industry, but to the person who is taking that first step to enter into the exciting – and addicting- game of finding that dream bucker.  But with the huge variety of genetics to choose from, even the most experienced breeders sometimes find themselves wondering in what direction they want to go next.  And the choices just keep on growing.

In an industry that is always on the move, it is important to stay current and informed.  It is the goal of BUCKING STOCK TALK  to provide those in the bucking bull industry with the latest up-to-date information on the business – who’s hot, health, organizations and events, advice from the experts and thoughts from those “in-the-know,” answers to readers questions, and a special spotlight feature every issue.

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Terry Lidral, Editor

Bucking Stock Talk

tlidral@buckingstocktalk.com

208-6061885

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.