A Glimps into my Dream

 

Today was an absolutely amazing day sunburn and all. Today my dad and I got to go to a bucking bull futurity in Iowa. What is a futurity you ask? Well it is an event kind of like a mini rodeo, with just bulls, where bucking bull owners can buck their young bulls aged 1,2,3,4 and can win money doing it. They break the bulls into age categories and buck them in a class by age. The 1 and 2 year old bulls don't buck with a rider they buck with a mechanical dummy on their back and only have to buck for 4-6 seconds. Once a bull becomes 3 and 4 years old they start to buck them with a rider on their back in something called a classic. They get some young kids in high school and college to ride the classic bulls and they can win if they ride and the bull owners can win money if their bulls preform well. These are the events and contests that bulls can get practiced and exposed so that they might get picked to go to events like the PBR.

This is the type of event that I would do to get started in the bucking bull business. I had talked with one of the breeders who was there today a couple of months ago about his partnership opportunities. He owns Phenom Genetics out of Minnesota. He brought 3 bulls all of which he has partnerships with other people. One of those people who he partners with is Jared Allen the professional football player for the Minnesota Vikings. That bull was entered in the classic event as a 3 year old. He ended up winning 2nd place out of 30+ bulls. Most of the money that Jared Allen wins with the bulls he partners with goes to his charity Homes for Wounded Warriors.

 

Along with meeting with the guy from Phenom Genetics, PBR bull rider Cord McCoy and his wife Sara were there with several of their futurity bulls. They ended up winning 1st and 2nd with 2 of their two year old bulls. We were watching the end of the short go when I saw Cord standing behind us. So I went over and congratulated him on his win and ended up talking with him for a good 15 min. He is a great guy and had a lot of advice and insight into the bull business. He would be an awesome person to do a partnership with. 

What made all of this so exciting and special was that it is one step closer to me obtaining my dream of becoming a stock contractor. Right now I am not financially ready to start such an endeavor but that doesn't stop me from learning about and making connections that will help me in the future. It was so neat to see this aspect of bull riding and so exciting to think that in a few years I may have bulls competing in some of these events.

Here are some of the pictures I got from today. I will try to post a video to my FB page because they turned out amazing but I'm not able to upload them to my post.

 

Cord and Sara winning 1st and 2nd place with their 2 year old bulls.

 

Another "celebrity" at the event. The young man pulling the bull rope on the chute is Jon Young. He is from Iowa and is going to college in Iowa. He just won the Ram National Circuit Finals in April for bull riding.

Matt from Phenom Genetics flanking one of his bulls

 

Cord flanking one of his bulls

Cord