Even though we’ve finished our MTBC events for this season, Above & Beyond and Dynamo will be heading out for more competition events as we reach Summer 2023. Join us as our guys move through the off season and get ready for the next challenge coming up in June.
EG7095 Above & Beyond and RB427 Dynamo are taking some down time at the Walden Bucking Bull Ranch before the upcoming summer competition circuit. Bucking bulls are extreme athletes and the routine health care they receive is vital to their ability to perform at peak level. As with all athletes, careful attention is paid to the maintenance of the muscular and skeletal structure. For Above & Beyond and Dynamo, this entails 3 spa days a year with Erin Thiel.
Above & Beyond relaxes with a PEMF treatement given by Erin Thiel. Our bulls get 3 magna wave treatments annually along with their chiropractic treatments,
Dynamo loves his back rubs. Erin Thiel gives Dyanmo one of his 3 annual chiropractic treatments at the Walden Bucking Bull Ranch.
Chiropractic and PEMF treatments are regular maintenance programs for the majority of the bucking bulls bucking in competition. Read about these treatments here:https://buckingstocktalk.com/bucking-stock-health-alternatives-pemf/ and https://buckingstocktalk.com/bucking-bulls-and-chiropractic-care/
We hope you’ve enjoyed following Team John Brennan/Bucking Stock Talk from the daily routine on the ranch through the excitement of PBR competition on this page and traveling with us through our 2023 season of the Million Dollar Bull Team Challenge.
The 2023 Million Dollar Bull Team Challenge has come to an end for the John Brennan/Bucking Stock Talk Bull Team. Although we didn’t finish above the cut-off line for the MDBTC Finals, our season had some great moments, including a 5th place finish in the PBR Velocity Tour Wheeling Invitational. We were up against some tough competition and the bulls on our team performed very well and we are proud of the outs they had.
Our bulls EG7095 Above & Beyond and RB427 Dynamo had consistently good outs, in some cases too good as MDBTC adds the rider’s time on the back of the bull into the overall bull score. A quick buck-off penalizes the bull score instead of enhances it.
We woud like to thank our partners who joined our team throughout the season: Shiloh Walden of Walden Bucking Bulls, Kaylee and Kaleb Stevens of Stevens Bucking Bulls and Brandon and Alexa Chambers of BC Cattle. For our team, MDBTC gives us a chance to work with other like-minded folks who are in the sport of bull riding for all the right reasons.
Favorite Photos of the Bovine Stars of the JohnBrennan/Bucking Stock Talk Bull Team
Some of Our Favorite Moments from the 2023 Million Dollar Bull Team Challenge.
Bulls are always excited to get on the truck and on the road.
There’s a special excitement of getting the bulls settled into bull housing.
The bulls are great travelers and enjoy riding in the trailer.
This has been a fun season for the John Brennan/Bucking Stock Talk Bull Team. Being a small operation, J. Clare Brennan Bucking Bulls must depend upon friendships and collaboration to make up the team rosters for the Million Dollar Bull Team Challenge events scattered about the Eastern part of the country that we have entered. The weather, the conflicting schedules and status of the bulls create the opportunity for us to team up with different people for different events.
Meet BC Cattle’s 720 Baby Henry:
This weekend, we are adding 720 Baby Henry of BC Cattle to our team roster. Welcome aboard BC Cattle. We are excited to have Baby Henry join us in Wheeling, West Virginia.
At around 1800 pounds, Baby Henry fills the chute and brings the power. He began his career as a rider bull at the age of 2 although as a weanling, it was thought that he had no athletic potential at all.
“The first time we bucked Baby Henry as a weanling with a dummy, it was embarrassing,” said Alexa Chambers, BC Cattle stock contractor who hauls and flanks Baby Henry at bull riding events. “He went out, kicked and then fell over on his side and couldn’t get up. He looked like a beached whale. I thought he was cute and so I kept him to be a pet to ride carrying the flag in rodeo parades. But he ended up being a bucking bull after all.”
Baby Henry wasn’t a dummy bull but he did well with a rider. In fact his size made it possible for him to buck in bull riding events at the age of 2.
“He started earning his keep as a rider bull when he was 2 years old,” Chambers tells us. “We hauled him right along with the other bulls and he bucked in every event we went to. He averages around 25 outs a year and now he’s 6.”
In all the outs that Baby Henry has had, he’s only been ridden once and that was early in the 2022 season. He’s big and powerful and he loves his job.
“What makes Baby Henry so hard to ride is that he’s unpredictable. He’s smart, probably too smart for his own self,” Chambers said about the bull who has an impressive buck-off streak. “He tries so hard every time.”
At the ranch and in the pens at bull riding events, Baby Henry loves to get attention. And he knows how to get it.
“If he sees people around, he’ll sidle up to the panel and find an opening where he can make himself noticable,” said Chambers. “He’s dog gentle and loves people. You can brush him like you brush a dog.”
Baby Henry also loves to get on the truck to go to events. And he gets upset if he’s left home.
“This bull does not like to be left behind. If he doesn’t get on the truck, he throws the biggest fit. He’ll moo and work the panels to see if can find a way to get on. He lets you know he’s not happy.”
For our fourth event, the PBR Velocity Tour Wheeling Invitational in Wheeling, West Virginia, there will be a different team for each night. March 17th, night one, we will be entering a 2-bull team – our EG7095 Above & Beyond and Walden Bucking Bull’s 88 Bet the Red. March 18th, night two, we will be entering a 4-bull team – our EG7095 Above & Beyond and RB427 Dynamo, Walden Bucking Bulls 88 Bet the Red and BC Bucking Bull’s 720 Baby Henry.
Next stop Wheeling, West Virginia!
Heading home from Dayton Rumble. Fun weekend and now back to the pasture for some R & R.
Pature mates Above & Beyond, Dynamo, Bet the Red and Jungle Love loaded the trailer at the ranch in Irish Hills, Michigan and headed out to Dayton, Ohio.
We love our trailer rides. But it is so much fun giving Shiloh a hard time getting us loaded.
Our favorite game is giving Shiloh a hard time gathering us for the trailer. But we have to let him win so we can head out to do the job that we love.
Dynamo and Above & Beyond were happy to get back to the ranch after the trip on the trailer to Hampton. But, they are ready to get going again, this time to the Dayton Rumble in Dayton, Ohio.
Million Dollar Bull Team Challenge: Next stop Hampton Classic, Hampton, VA
The John Brennan/Bucking Stock Talk Team loaded and ready to head out to a warm-up event for the PBR Velocity Tour Hampton Classic.
We’re a 4-bull team for the MDBTC PBR Velocity Tour Hampton Classic. Joining our team are two bulls from Walden Bucking Bulls, 88 Bet the Red and 23F Jungle Love. As Above & Beyond and Dynamo live at the Walden Ranch, the bulls are comfortable traveling and penning together in bull housing and in the back pens. This is a major benefit. The less stress a bull feels at an event, the better chance he has at performing his best.
88 Bet the Red is a 4-year-old. He was bred by Joel Johnson at the Old Desperado Ranch in gGreenbrier, Arkansas. Bet the Red is a ham for the camera and is easy going. He adapts readily to any situation, a bull who goes with the flow. In the chutes, he handles well and is a bull that is really liked by the riders. He was a money winner last year in the 2022 ABBI Derby competition. And towards the middle of the competition season, he started to show a consistent pattern which is ideal for a team bull.
88 Bet the Red as a 4-year-old at the 2022 SEBRA Finals. Video thanks to Lost Nation Rodeo.
23F Jungle Love Is a 5-year-old Page bred bull. He was high marked bull at the 2022 Quarter Horse Congress PBR (Columbus, OH). Jungle Love is a 100 miles per hour Point A to Point B type bull. He has lived with Dynamo and Above & Beyond for the last two years at the Walden Ranch. Over the past several months, the bull has buddied up with Above & Beyond and they have become close friends which is a big plus for the team.
23F Jungle Love as a 5-year- old at the 2022 SEBRA Finals. Video thanks to Lost Nations Rodeo.
The Million Dollar Bull Team Challenge – The Plan Comes Together
John Brennan has been competing with his bulls Above & Beyond and Dynamo since they started out in competition as Yearlings. Now both six years old, Brennan has brought the bulls up through the levels of competition from bucking with a dummy in futurities to bucking with a rider in the Derby and Classic events. It’s a special experience for him to enter them in the Million Dollar Bull Team Challenge.
I am very fortunate with the mentorship received to establish a plan which created the path to continue competing with them after their ABBI Classic years. It is truly an amazing experience to be part of the lives the past 5 years. I’ve seen them develop from Yearlings into bulls competing in the PBR.
The first Million Dollar Bull Team Challenge event they competed at in 2022 was at Rupp Arena (Lexington, Kentucky) was a very surreal experience. When they were in the back pens before the event it was definitely a moment when I realized that the plan had come together.
Million Dollar Bull Team Challenge event PBR Velocity Tour Collision at the Coliseum in North Charlotte, South Carolina on February 3rd Update:
#804 Hou’s Time of Stevens Bucking Bulls making sure his rider doesn’t make the 8 seconds.
#863 High Hopes of Stevens Bucking Bulls making short work of his rider at PBR Velocity Collision at the Coliseum.
Kaleb Stevens unloading #863 High Hopes at bull housing for PBR Velocity Collision at the Coliseum.
Kaleb Stevens unloading #804 Hou’s Time at bull housing for PBR Velocity Collision at the Coliseum.
We are blessed to have made good friends and colleagues in the bucking bull competition world. It allows us to make decisions about the welfare and wellbeing of our bulls and those who travel with them. The snowy and unpredictable winter weather in Michigan has led us to the decision of having our friends Kaleb and Kaylee Stevens of Stevens Bucking Bulls in Chunchula, Alabama represent the John Brennan/Bucking Stock Talk Team in the Million Dollar Bull Team Challenge event PBR Velocity Tour Collision at the Coleseum in North Charlotte, South Carolina on February 3rd. The bulls entered are their 2022 Oklahoma City Classic Champion 863 High Hopes and 804 Hou’s Time. Both bulls are proven competitors and we are excited to watch them buck.
MEET THE PBR VELOCITY TOUR COLLISION AT THE COLISEUM COMPETITORS:
863 High Hopes is the 2022 Oklahoma City Classic Champion bucking bull. He won the event with a score of 90.72 point bull score. (Watch here https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=343953864321438) From the very first time the Stevens bucked their Cracker Jack son with a rider as a 2-year-old, it was clear he had the WOW factor. Nothing special with a dummy, the bull came alive with a rider. It was nose to the ground, kick out the lights every time he bucked. High Hopes’ athletic talent earned him the title of 2021 East American Heritage Derby Champion. At the end of the 2021 season High Hopes finished in the Top 20. In 2022, the bull started out the Classic season with his win at Oklahoma City. The bull went on to finish 6th in Little Rock, in the Top 15 in Tulsa and in the Top 10 of the first round in Fort Worth. At 5 years old, High Hopes has put on size and gained strength. He may not kick the lights out nose to ground, but he still has the skills to give the rider a chance for an 88 to 89 point score. And he has heart and determination. If he gets ridden, he comes out the next time fired up.
The Stevens of Stevens Bucking Bulls teamed up their bulls High Hopes and Hou’s Time with an entry from Twisted T Livestock for the 2022 Boot Barn Jerome Davis Invitational Team event. They came in first and won $10,000.
804 Hou’s Time is out of Showtime genetics on the top and Houdini on the bottom. The “little white bull” caught Kaylee Stevens’ eye and she convinced her husband, Kaleb that they should buy him. His first rider trip was right out of the gate , to the right and a right turn. He’s been very consistent in that in competition. For anyone who has not seen Hou’s Time in action in the arena, his performance may be greatly surprising. Hou’s Time has a leisurely approach to life in general. Whether it be dinner call, getting on the trailer, or walking down the alleyway to the chutes, it’s one foot in front of the other. There is no hurry in this bull and nothing is going to change his mind about how to live his life.
MEET THE BULLS ON OUR TEAM:
EG7095 Above & Beyond is a six-year-old bucking bull who is owned by John Brennan and was the original bull of J. Clare Brennan Bucking Bulls. When the bull is not competing, he lives on the Shiloh Walden Ranch in Irish Hills of Michigan.
Bred and raised on the Jaynes Gang Ranch , Above & Beyond is a very smart and observant bull who makes it his business to know what is going on around him. Every step he takes is calculated.
“Even as a yearling, Above and Beyond was always calculating what was going to happen next,” said John Brennan who initially secured partnership in Above and Beyond as a Yearling. “He would always be at the end of the line of yearlings so he could have a clear view. When it was time for pictures, he’d duck in behind the others and turn around to see what was going on behind him.”
Above & Beyond proved himself to be a very talented and able competitor in futurity competition. He’s always been comfortable in the competition atmosphere with over $39,000 in ABBI Lifetime Earnings.
“Bull trainer Dennis Davis (of Dennis Davis Bucking Bulls) did an excellent job preparing Above and Beyond for the competition process,” Brennan explained. “That’s why the bull handles it all so well. Above and Beyond is very laid back and he’s perfect in the chute. He’s also laid back when he travels. He’s usually lying down in the trailer early into the trip.”
Above and Beyond is also laid back with other bulls and life in general.
“Every bull wants to be his friend,” said Brennan of the bull he’s grown to know well. “He’s not at all aggressive and other bulls are typically not aggressive towards him. When he’s penned with another bull, he has a calming effect but he is known to steal their food.
Above and Beyond loves to eat and he’s not fussy. He makes it his job to get as much food as he possibly can.
“At feeding time, this bull is always calculating how to get more to eat,” Brennan told us with a laugh. “He’ll move around and tap another bull that is feeding to get the other bull to turn around and then he sneaks in to get another bite from their tub.”
Above and Beyond enjoys bucking in competition. But he is rather much of a homebody.
“He’s always happy to get home,” said Brennan. “You usually have to coax him to get on the truck to go to an event. But there’s no problem getting him off the truck when he gets back to the ranch.”
Dynamo is a six-year old bull who was bred by Shane Reeder in Kansas and raised on the Jaynes Gang Ranch. The bull now lives on the Shiloh Walden Ranch in the Irish Hills of Michigan. He is owned by John Brennan and is a part of J. Clare Brennan Bucking Bulls.
As a yearling, Dynamo was small in size but big in stature.
“Dynamo has a heart as big as the state of Texas,” said John Brennan, who was drawn to the little white and black spotted Yearling who went unnoticed. “The thing I really liked about that little bull was that he always tried hard. He gave it everything he had every time. But he was small and he didn’t have it all together as a Yearling bull.”
Brennan believed in the little bull and gave him time to grow up. And it paid off.
“Dynamo’s size caught up with his heart and try” Brennan said of the bull he never lost faith in. “He became a different bull with a rider. Dennis Davis did an amazing job with Dyanmo’s development and training, another bull from the Dennis Davis Bull Academy on the PBR Tour. At the Professional Bull Riders levels, it’s his speed that makes him hard to ride. He’s a handful for the riders. Announcers have described him as a ‘Weather Vane in a Hurricane.’ He often bucks riders off so fast it’s hard for him to show what he’s got.”
Dynamo has no problem being in the company of other bulls. But he is a bull that likes his alone time.
“This bull tends to often keep to himself. He doesn’t need to be in the pack,” Brennan explained about Dynamo’s lack of a need for the company of other bulls. “It’s not uncommon to see him standing off on a hill by himself, looking out over the pasture. He does enjoy his time spent with his pasture mate Above & Beyond. And he has no problem being penned with him at competition events.”
It is getting Dynamo on the truck to travel to the competitions that can be a problem.
“The last bull on the truck is always Dynamo,” Brennan told us with a laugh. “He stands out there looking at us and we know it’s going to be crazy getting him in. It’s a game to him and he plays it well”
And once at bull housing, Dynamo chooses to be a picky eater.
“At home, he’s not fussy. He eats everything we give him. But at events, like a lot of bulls, he’s picky about his food and water. He does handle well in the chute,” Brennan went on to say.
And like his pasture mate Above & Beyond, Dynamo is always happy to get home.
“Getting Dynamo on the truck can be a challenge. But he runs right off the truck when he knows he’s home. He’s happy to be there,” said Brennan. “If Dynamo unloads first he will wait for Above & Beyond before heading out to the pasture. They are close.”
Dynamo may be aloof to other bulls, but he has a connection to Brennan.
“Dynamo is the one bull that recognizes me, more so than my other bulls. If he’s in bull housing and I am in the area, he notices. And If I am moving around, he’ll position himself so he can keep an eye on me. He’s made a connection.”
Above & Beyond and Dynamo had a warm-up to the 2023 MDBTC season at the Southern Extreme Bull Riding Assocation Finals at Murfressboro, Tennessee in November 2022. Theses are videos of their outs at the Finals event. Dynamo, in the long round, showed off his impressive speed and athletic ability with a quick buck-off. And Above & Beyond easily dispatched his championship round rider who just happened to be high scored rider in the long round.
Preseason Warm-up:
Dynamo shows why the announcers typically refer to this bull as a “Weather Vane in a Hurricane.”
Above & Beyond shows off his athletic talents with a strong performance in the SEBRA Finals championship round.
Our boys love to play in the dirt! It’s always a fun day when they find a gold mine of dirt like this. Bulls, most times, do not like to share their dirt piles. But Above & Beyond and Dynamo have grown up together. Sharing their play pile just comes naturally.
Bucking Stock Talk Magazine has teamed up with J. Clare Brennan Bucking Bulls to form the John Brennan/Bucking Stock Talk Bull Team for the 2023 Million Dollar Bull Team Challenge series. Team JohnBrennan/Bucking Stock Talk will be entering both 2 bull and 4 bull events. We start with the PBR Velocity Tour Collision at the Coliseum in North Charlotte, South Carolina on February 3rd.
The collaboration between J. Clare Brennan Bucking Bulls and Bucking Stock Talk Magazine to create this team spotlights the opportunity for partnership, cooperation, networking and the collaborative effort that can be found in the world of bucking bull competition.
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.
