by Terry Lidral
Many people do not know that the 2012 PBR Champion Bull Asteroid, owned and hauled by Howard Talley’s Circle T Ranch and then, later, by Chad Berger, was raised on the Kanngiesser Ranch in Kansas. The son of the bull #331 Cotton, Asteroid had the athleticism, the skills and the smarts it took to be one of the all-time outstanding greats in a sport filled with legendary bucking bulls.
“We raised him right here in Kansas,” said Cooper Kanngiesser, who along with his father Mark, put together the breeding program that produced one of the greatest bulls to ever buck.
Asteroid’s accomplishments in the PBR are renowned. With an amazing streak of 31 consecutive buck-offs and an average bull score of 45.74 points as of his first retirement in 2015, Asteroid was revered by fans and riders alike. Cody Lambert considers him to be one of the best bulls in the history of the sport of bull riding. Lambert has compared Asteroid, with his small stature and snappy style, to the great bucking bulls Mr. T. and Pacific Bell.
Kanngiesser who had a successful career in professional bull riding, attributes Asteroid’s tremendous talent as a bucking bull to the Cotton bloodlines that are the foundation of the family’s breeding program.
“Asteroid is a son of #331 Cotton,” Kanngiesser told us. “One of the things that made Asteroid so special was his kick and he got that from his daddy. Cotton was out of #994 Mama Cotton who was one our original cows and she was 100 percent Watusi.”
“It was about 25 years ago that me and my dad started our breeding program,” continued Kanngiesser.
“We started off with 6 Watusi cows and one cow that was a black Brangus and we bred those cows to rodeo bulls. Mama Cotton is the foundation of our program. 994 never missed. She never had a bad calf. We only got 2 bulls out of her but we never had a heifer out of her that didn’t produce. We kept everything. We never let any of Mama Cotton’s calves go.”
Watusi cows are big and so the Kanngiessers made the decision to breed them to smaller bulls.
“We used Jimmy Crowther bulls to cross with our Watusi cows. Those cows have size and they throw kick. Crowther bulls are smaller and they spin and buck. We thought they’d cross well. #331 Cotton’s sire was a son of Crowther’s bull Watermelon Crawl.”
In the case of Mama Cotton’s namesake, the cross worked out very well. #331 Cotton won some open futurities and was a respected bull on the PRCA circuit.
But it was #331 Cotton’s son that got the best of the Watusi kick.
“There was something exceptional about Asteroid from the beginning,” said Kanngiesser proudly of the grandson of the Kanngiessers’ original 021 black Brangus cow. “He was out of an 021 daughter, 581 Lil Mama. Asteroid could really kick and that came from Cotton. You don’t see that kind of kick in a lot of bulls.”
Kanngiesser knew that Asteroid was going to be an outstanding bucking bull. He contacted Corey Melton and Harlan Robertson about the prospect of buying him, but they passed on purchasing the inexperienced bull.
“I offered to sell Asteroid but they didn’t buy him. So, I took Asteroid to the CBR when he was a 3-year old. He was the first bull out and when he left the chute, I knew he was something special. He was scored a 23 ½,” Kanngiesser said with a hint of awe in his voice at the memory. “The next morning, I was sleeping in and Harlan Robertson must have called me 30 times to ask me about Asteroid. I told him he’d had a chance to purchase him cheap and it was going to cost him more now that Asteroid had shown what he could do.”
Robinson, who had purchased #331 Cotton as a 4-year-old, did buy Asteroid and hauled him to events. And he was highly impressed by the Asteroid’s ability.
“Robinson bucked Asteroid a lot of times and he told me that he’d never put his hands on a bull that bucked so hard every time,” related Kanngiesser. “I think that bull bucked harder as a 3-year old than he did during his professional career. He was a 1400-pound bull that they tried to buck as if he were 1800 pounds. But I think what saved Asteroid was that he knew how to take care of himself. Smaller bulls tend to last longer because they don’t wear out like the heavier bulls. Asteroid would kick way over his head and come around, but he’d never go so far that he’d get hurt.”
Eventually, Corey Melton, who was too late to buy Asteroid as a 3-year old, got Circle T’s Howard Talley to buy the bull and put him on the truck of bulls Corey and his dad were hauling for Talley to the PBR. In a pen of outstanding bulls, Asteroid rose the top where he competed for several years with Bushwacker for the title of PBR World Champion Bull.
“Personally, I think that one of the years Bushwacker won World Champion Bull that Asteroid was better. And I think the year Asteroid won it, he wasn’t the best,” reminisced Kanngiesser who proudly states that he tells it like he sees it.
After retirement in 2015, Asteroid was purchased by Chad Berger and reintroduced to competition in 2016. The bull was finally retired for good in 2017 where he lived out his final days at the Berger ranch until he died in 2019.
Kanngiesser’s wife Kylie is a partner in building and growing the breeding program that developed from the original Watusi cows. The Cotton bloodlines continue to be at the heart of that program and to that end, the Kanngiessers returned #331 Cotton back to his original home.
“Cotton was sold and he was hauled by Lancaster and Pickett,” Kanngiesser told us. “We bought him back to breed to. It was an anniversary present for Kylie and me. Now she owns half of him,” he added with a laugh.
The #994 cow Mama Cotton passed away at the age of 23 after producing 10 calves, 8 of them daughters. These Mama Cotton daughters all inherited their mama’s consistency in always having good calves. And for Kanngiesser, selling any daughters out of that line is out of the question. And that includes daughters from #331 Cotton.
“We’ve kept everything from #994 and never let them go. We’ve never sold a #331 Cotton daughter, except for one and then we bought her back. Cotton daughters don’t throw duds very often.”
In order to get those good calves, Kanngiesser breeds to bulls no rider wants to get on.
“I try to breed to what I call ‘man killers,’” said Kanngiesser with a chuckle. “They’re the bulls that no rider wants to get on because they are rank. They’ve got the stuff that makes an outstanding bull. You can breed to 18-point bulls or 12-point bulls and that’s what you’re going to get. I want to raise bulls that I don’t want to get on because they’re that good.”
Currently, Kanngiesser has two young bulls that he’s very excited about. One is a classic bull with an average bull score of 21.54 after three events.
“We’ve got a 4-year old named #643 Home Wrecker that’s a Cotton son out of our #43 cow. That cow’s sire is the Houdini son Smokestack and her dam is a daughter of Asteroid. We’ve taken him to some classic events this year and we’re excited about him. He really bucks. And then we have his full brother, #743 Wreck It Ralph, who’s a 3-year old. We’re working with him and I think he’s going to turn out to be something very special.”
A major addition to the Kanngiesser breeding program has been the Crowthers bull, X72 High as a Kite. This bull bucked for several years on the PBR circuit putting up a number of 44 and 45 point bull scores.
“X72 High as a Kite is an old school big bucker and we’ve kept all his daughters and had good luck with his sons. We have a bull out of him, #381 Mamas Boy whose dam is #581 Lil Mama, Asteroid’s dam. We actually have nicknamed him Big Red because of his red color.
He was an NFR bull and we used him as a sire this year and his calves are hitting the ground and they’re red too. You look out over the pasture and all you see is red. We can’t wait to see how this cross works out.”
The Kanngiessers are proud of the bloodlines they’ve built and the superstar that brought recognition to their breeding program. They’re also excited about their up and coming bulls like Home Wrecker whose calves are hitting the ground this year. And they are looking to the future with excitement.
“Most of our cows go back to the Watusi cows or are Cotton daughters. We’ve added some Page bloodlines with a cow whose sire is #33 Scream and whose dam is a Western Wishes . We also have a sister of X72. We’re outcrossing a little to prove that our bloodlines will cross with everything”
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.
Are there any orodgeny of the bull Asteroid around today ..either on the circuit on being used in breeding somewhere?
You might contact Cooper Kanngiesser and Corey Melton with that question.