If challenged to come up with a motto for the sport of bucking bulls, one could easily use the refrain, “You’ve come a long way baby!”

The growth of every phase of this industry has been explosive by any measure. Whether you are a stock contractor, rider, or in an industry that supports the aforementioned, I am sure you have seen monumental changes in your business. And the exciting thing is that it is just the beginning.

Less than a decade ago, if someone told you that bull riding would be televised weekly, I am sure most would have thought that to be pie-in-the-sky dreaming. If someone said an individual bull would sell for over a million dollars, you might have thought that they were nuts. This has happened and more exciting changes are on the horizon.

Perhaps the most interesting changes are going on in the way we deal with our stock. Care has improved dramatically over the past few years. Ten years ago, if a bull was crippled or really sick, it probably meant a half-hearted attempt to find the problem and then the slaughterhouse if nothing could be done.
Now, we have universities devoting entire sections and developing programs for the care, nutrition and reproduction of bucking bulls. Who would have thought that we would be hauling our sick bulls to the university? Who would have imagined vets devoting their entire practice to this singular industry? The progress is simply amazing and the advances in veterinary medicine are just beginning.

Aside from the progress we have made in caring for these bovine athletes, the advances in reproductive science are making a genetically-dominant bull into (excuse the pun) a “cash cow”. Frozen semen, artificial insemination, in-vitro embryo transfer, sexing technology, and cloning may portend an entire change in the way we develop and market bucking stock. The day may come when one person owns the semen of a PBR Bull of the Year while another person actually owns the bull and enjoys the notoriety of such ownership with none of the complications (or revenue) of standing the bull to the public. There will be buyers entering this market purely for the thrill of being involved and seeking none of the headaches associated with being a breeder/contractor.

On another note, imagine being able to pick the sex of your calf while it is in the womb. Want a cow by the great Bodacious? You could make it happen. Looking for a great bull by Little Yellow Jacket? That could be done, too.

Finally, the new frontier in genetics, cloning, will be the most interesting part of this movement. Imagine seeing Scene of the Crash or Lucky Strike at the next fifteen PBR Finals. It could happen. The science is there. The opportunities are endless. How we manage these issues will change the industry for this decade and beyond. It’s an exciting time to be in the business of bucking bulls.

T. G.