by Terry Lidral
Rickey West Bucking Bulls (RWBB) is a family success story. Everything on the ranch is done by family members. And that’s a big job for a ranch that is home for 60 plus head of bucking bulls.
“Our day-to-day operation includes feeding those 60 head of bucking bulls, not including all the cows, twice a day. Then, every day we condition the bulls. It’s what we do,” said Rickey West about the business he’s built with his wife, Selena, son Riley and daughter Hadley.
And because it’s a family business, West takes extra pride in the quality of bulls he’s raising in the program. Since 1999, RWBB founder Rickey West has been raising and hauling bucking bulls as a business. But it’s not only a business. It’s a way of life. And he feels blessed that he can do what he loves.
“I chose my job,” West, an Alabama native, told us of his choice of a career. “I consider myself lucky. I’ve loved bucking bulls ever since I was a kid. And I decided I wanted to be a bull rider.”
“I started riding bulls when I was about 17 and I rode for 10 years,” West continued on about the start of his life-long association with bucking bulls. “When I was riding, not all the bulls were even. It’s been a goal of mine to raise and haul a set of bulls that will give every rider a chance to win.”
As a former bull rider, West understands the importance of bulls that give a rider a chance to win.
For the past two decades, West has been building a breeding program and a herd of bucking bulls to fulfill his vision. From futurities, to PBR Touring Pro and Velocity events and on to the Unleash The Beast tour, West’s bulls are performing well. And his bulls are putting up scores that are giving riders the opportunity for round wins.
West believes that a key to their success is allowing bucking bulls to mature. Bulls are all different as to how they physically and mentally develop. And there are more demands on the bull as they move on up through the levels of competition.
“Adjustment to competition comes with maturity,” explained West. “We haul to 34 to 36 events a year. I put in a lot of time getting a bull ready to go to an event. As 4-year-olds, they’ve been bucked several times but never hauled a far distance from home. It’s important to me that when you haul them to an event that they are ready to be there. Some bulls can take the pressure but it can be too much for some of them at first. You have to know your bulls and know when to enter them and when to rest them.”
One of West’s up and coming 4-year-olds is #7315 Gangster Bones. He’s put up some impressive numbers his first year on the PBR tours circuit. After the bull’s first unimpressive trip, an immediate buck-off right out of the chute, Gangster Bones has earned bull scores that are drawing attention.
“He’s a very nice bull,” said West about Gangster Bones who put up a 43.5 bull score in his first ever UTB Series event, a ride by Joao Henrique Lucas at the Bad Boy Mowers Invitational in Jacksonville, Florida, for a combined score of 88.75. “It was his first time bucking in the UTB tour and they won the round on him,” West told us proudly.
“Gangster Bones is a son of I’m A Gangster II out of a Bones daughter. He has lots of kick and lots of whip. He is long and around to the right. I’m pretty high on him. After his last couple of trips it makes me think he might be something special. I’m partners on this bull with Steve Freeman and Heath Rogers.”
Another good bull in West’s herd is Jumanji. In September of 2020, RWBB’s Jumanji won the Classic event at the Jerome Davis Boot Barn Bad Bull Shootout. West sees a lot of good things in his bull that just turned 5.
“Jumanji was a summer calf. We never have calves that late. All our calves are born in February and March and we didn’t even know his mama was bred,” explained West. “He was an uh-oh calf that was born in June 2016. He’s doing really good,” West said in regards to Jumanji’s win at the Jerome Davis Classic event. “He goes back to Magic Man and Jack Daniels Happy Hour. He’s generally right in the gate to the left. He has a lot of up and down and he’s got a lot of kick.”
West is also hauling #626 Experiment who is showing well in the three top levels of the PBR. His most recent trip at the UTB event in Jacksonville, Florida showed that the bull is able to handle the top riders.
“Experiment is another bull I raised. He’s a Showtime grandson with West bloodlines on the bottom. Cooper Davis drew him at the Jacksonville event and rode him for a score of 88.25. And Davis went on to win the event. I’m partners with Hatcher Porter on Experiment and Experiment won Hatcher a Bull of the Round buckle at one of the events,” West told us.
Partnership has provided West with the opportunity to enhance his herd with high quality bulls like #647 Choctaw Bingo.
There’s one bull in West’s herd that bears a very special name. And it has to do with West’s favorite song by the group Alabama.
“I’ve always wanted to name a bull ‘Dixieland Delight’ after my favorite song by the group Alabama,” West said with a laugh. “They only live 20 minutes from my house. Dixieland Delight is a good looking four-year-old who’s out of the first calf crop by Rebel Yell II.”
Dixieland Delight started out the New Year of 2021 at his first PBR event, The Touring Pro Division’s Cowtown Classic. He proved he was able to take the pressure.
“I was very pleased with this bull’s first out at that level,” said West. “He bucked off his rider in 5.26 seconds and got a really good bull score of 43.5. And his out at the UTB Bad Boy Invitation in Jacksonville, Florida in May showed how strong he is.”
In Jacksonville, Dixieland Delight easily bucked off three-time PBR World Champion Silvano Alves in 5.53 seconds for a bull score of 43.
Rickey West Bucking Bulls is producing winning competitors. His commitment to breeding kick into his program is paying off.
Express Lane is another good bull that RWBB is hauling. His bull scores have just kept getting better since his debut on the PBR Touring Pro tour in January 2020. At the Bad Boy Mower Invitational in Jacksonville, Florida in May of this year, Express Lane combined with Ezekiel Mitchell for a score of 87.75 that sent Mitchell on his way to a fifth place finish in the event. At the UTB Coors Banquet Invitational in Okeechobee, Florida in early 2021, Express Lane combined with Colten Fritzlan for a score of 86.5 to help Fritzlan in winning the overall event.
RWBB also hauls bulls they have included in their herd from other programs. 2020 PBR Finals Bull #647 Choctaw Bingo is one of the stars on RWBB’s truck. He was out of Clint Vicker’s program in Sayre, Oklahoma. Read #647 Choctaw Bingo’s story here: https://buckingstocktalk.com/647-choctaw-bingo-2020-pbr-finals-bull/
The future looks bright for the West bucking bull program. The RWBB’s Rebel Yell II is showing himself to be a producing sire.
“We’ve got a set of 2-year-olds and a set of yearlings out of Rebel Yell II and I’m fooling with them to see what we’ve got,” West shared his excitement about Rebel Yell II’s calf crops. “We got a good one in Dixieland Delight. I’m hoping for more like him.”
36Z Rebel Yell II, now retired, made a name for himself on the PBR UTB Tour. Read Rebel Yell’s story here: https://buckingstocktalk.com/pbr-bull-rebel-yell-ii-retires/
Rickey West is not the only one looking to the Rebel Yell II genetics as the future of the family business. West’s son, Riley recently graduated from high school and plans on building on the RWBB breeding program. And he has plans on how he wants to do it.
“I gave Riley 10 heifers from the program as a graduation gift to start his own herd,” West explained. “He knows the breeding of all the bulls and he knows the cows. Ever since I told him he could pick those 10 heifers, he’s been thinking about the ones he wants. He plans to handpick every one. There’s a Rebel Yell II heifer he’s set on taking and he has reminded me I told him he could pick the ones he wants,” West added with a chuckle.
As to when West will turn over the operations, it’s not going to be in the near future.
“Riley is taking on some of the duties of the operations. Sometimes I’ll take a load of bulls. Sometimes he’ll do it. But the bull business is all I’ve ever done. As long as I have the drive and the passion to put out the effort it takes to be successful in the PBR, I’ll keep doing what I’m doing,” West told us about the business that has been his life.
“I strive to have bulls that will be successful in the ABBI and the top levels of the PBR. That’s the pinnacle of the bucking bull business. If you think you’ve got a good one, take your bull to the PBR and you will find out how good he really is.”
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.
