The Garden City Telegram
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Skills on display
Published 5/29/2009 in Beef Empire Days-Industry
By SHAJIA AHMAD
When people hear what Bart Benton does for a living — rise before the sun to round up sick heifers — the cowboy said they're sometimes taken aback.
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Brad Nading/Telegram — Grant County Feeders 1 team members move a pair of numbered cows through a pen to a trailer Thursday while competing in the trailer loading category of the Beef Empire Days Ranch Rodeo at the Finney County Fairgrounds arena.
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A team from Midwest Feeders move a lassoed calf past the chalk line Thursday while competing in the calf branding category of the Beef Empire Days Ranch Rodeo at the Finney County Fairgrounds arena.
"They're surprised at the actual fact that we ride horses. It's like they expect it to be done back in the 1800s or something," Benton, who works for Midwest Feeders in Ingalls, said and laughed.
Benton's team competed first in the calf-branding competition, the second challenge during the Beef Empire Days Ranch Rodeo, where ranch and feedlot cowboys — and at least one cowgirl — put their skills to several tests.
"Hustle! Hustle!" some of a few hundred crowd members yelled at the tops of their lungs at the riders on horseback as they chased down speeding heifers along the arena's breadth, causing their cowboy hats to fly off their heads.
It was tough luck for a lot of the contestants, especially when heifers escaped their enclosing horses, fleeing outside the boundaries of each challenge.
For others, like the winning team from Rafter JB Ranch based near Garden City that took home more than $2,000 in cash, it was a chance to show off their ranching skills in four challenges: trailer loading, calf branding, team doctoring and double mugging.
During the first trailer loading challenge, four riders attempted to isolate two pre-selected heifers from a herd of tagged cattle, guide the pair onto the back of a trailer on the other side of the arena, dismount and tie down their horses, then jump onto the truck's flatbed, all in less than three minutes.
A ranch team from CattleCo in Liberal rounded up its heifers in the challenge in less than a minute and 20 seconds.
Other teams were disqualified during the team doctoring challenge, one of the primary responsibilities of ranch hands, when they pluck out sick cattle. Four or five riders singled out a pre-selected heifer from its herd and attempted to rope it down in the fastest time possible and limited by three minutes. During the double mugging challenge, riders attempted to rope a heifer by the head — "a head catch" — and then calm the kicking animal so two riders could tie its legs together as quickly as possible.
In both challenges, too often, the heifers outran the riders' lassos, disqualifying the teams. However, the winner of the team doctoring challenge, the Midnight Riders out of the Syracuse Feedyard, roped down their heifer in 40 seconds flat, wowing many in the crowd.
For one audience member, Thursday night's ranch rodeo was her first.
"I really had no idea what to expect," said Becky Rider, who drove from Ness City to catch the show with her husband, Tyler. "This is really exciting — and what a beautiful night to be outside, more than anything else."
Have you been enjoying the Beef Empire Days festivities? Share your photos in the galleries at SWKTalk.com.
2009 Beef Empire Days Ranch Rodeo
Challenge & Winner ($250 per team)
- Trailer Loading — CattleCo Liberal
- Calf Branding — Dewey Ranch
- Team Doctoring — Midnight Riders from Syracuse Feedyard
- Double Mugging — TLW Land & Cattle
Overall Rodeo Contest (Best of four challenges)
1st place — Rafter JB Ranch ($2,060 prize)
2nd place — Meade County Feeders ($860 prize)
3rd place — Kan Sun Feeders ($520 prize)
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