Rodeo is a western lifestyle created by competitions between cowboys at ranches in the Spanish era trying to ride wild horses. The first rodeo was an event in 1882 with the event steer riding, steer roping, and cow pony races. A few years later, steer riding became bull riding. Calf roping was introduced with barrel racing, team roping, and steer wrestling soon after. Now, the biggest associations are the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, High school Rodeo Association, and College Rodeo Association. Rodeo has become a big family sport for all generations.
Some people may believe animals are abused in the rodeo atmosphere but healthy animals are needed to have a rodeo, if there were no animals there would not be any type of rodeo. Rodeo animals are not purposely hurt and abused. There are accidents once in a while but what sport does not have any accidents happen. There are several points going into keeping the animals healthy and safe like the money that goes into the animals to stay healthy, there is a vet at every rodeo for emergencies, there are rules that each association requires to keep animals safe, and also several rules each state has to keep animals safe.
A lot of money goes into keeping rodeo animals safe and healthy for each performance. Animals are fed expensive supplements and are kept in nice quality places at a rodeo to be able to perform to the best of their ability. These animals are not starved and put in tiny crates for long amounts of time. When the animals are being hauled they will only go so far until they stop and let the animals out for a while to get water and food they need.
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The stock trailers can be sixteen to thirty-two feet long. Animals will have plenty of room to walk and move around in those trailers during the ride. Multiple trailers will be hauled in to each rodeo to ensure the comfort of each animal. The drivers of these stock trailers are highly trained with their CDL and trained to make a smooth ride for each animal. As Pat Deavoll mentioned in his article, ‘without healthy competitive animals, we don’t have a sport” (Deavoll, 2019). With rodeo animals being the most important aspect of this sport, the animals are kept in nice places and are healthier than most people’s house animals.
Outside of each performance of the rodeo, the animals are normally kept in “outdoor space and pastures for the animals to eat, rest, and hydrate’ or sometimes large indoor areas for them to stay dry (Steffey, 2018). Each pasture the animals stay in have fresh clean tubs of water and have the manure picked from. When the animals are kept inside to get away from the weather, they have fresh shavings to give each animal a clean place to stay. Shavings will soak up urine and give the animal a soft padded place to lay when they are inside. Contractors will spend an insane amount of money on good quality hay, grain, and special feed for their cows to come to the rodeo. A number of stock contractors buy round bales for their cows to eat.
A good quality round bale can cost up to seventy dollars, weighing anywhere from one-thousand to two-thousand pounds. Cow owners can estimate their “cows eating 35-40 lbs. of hay per day” not including what the cows will waste from standing in each day (Ministry). One round bale can keep three to five cows, depending on the size, on it for about a week. During a small to medium rodeo, lasting three to four days, there are about forty to sixty cows all together. There would be about eight round bales to feed the stock at these rodeos can cost about seven-hundred dollars only in hay. With the hay costing that much there is also grain included that can cost around ten dollars for a forty-pound bag.
The bags of grain can last a day for one bucking bull and around 3 days for five calves. In addition, there are also vaccines each animal will get to keep them from getting sick as much as possible. When an animal gets sick owners will get medicine that can end up getting very expensive to take care of the animal. As Trevor Reiste stated “the stock contractors spend an insane amount of time and money to have the best livestock’ (Reiste, 2018). Rodeos need healthy and strong animals for their performance, without their performance there would not be a rodeo. Rodeo animals always have full bellies and a clean place to stay, these animals are very well taken care of after each rodeo.
Rodeo associations and contestants take care of their animals and do not purposely mean for one to get hurt. People at a rodeo can be very knowledgeable about taking care of animals and can help, but there is still a veterinarian on site at all times of the rodeo in case of an accident happening and an animal gets hurt. Animals have immediate care to take care of a minor cut or even save an animal’s life. The biggest to smallest rodeos around have ‘a veterinarian with experience in large animal care be present at all times’ (Steffey, 2018).
If the animals are hurt that bad they will be put down in an emergency situation and will be saved from suffering a lot of pain. Rodeos require healthy animals to perform their best for each competitor to have an even chance of winning. Before the rodeo, animals are “inspected and evaluated for illness, weight, eyesight and injury’ so they can not compete injured and will be taken home or put to the side at the rodeo (PRCA).
As this is more fair for each competitor it is also more fair for each animal getting better and not irritating their injury. With this being said a vet can not inject, wrap, or fix an animal before the performance of the rodeo so they can compete. After helping the animal before or after the rodeo they will be set aside or taken home to get better. The weight of the calves must be between two-hundred and twenty and two-hundred and eighty pound, while steers are between four-hundred and fifty and six-hundred and sixty pounds. This is checked by the veterinarian and stock contractors to ensure there are no baby calves being hurt as they are still in the process of growing. The weight restrictions also pertain to an animal only getting used so much as they will get fatter and weigh more.
These Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, PRCA, rules are “very strict, pertaining to animal care’ and safety (Yeoman, 2005). Roping animals are more likely to get hurt from somebody accidentally doing it rather than bucking animals. Roping calves or steers could get accidentally run over by a horse or will break a leg more frequently then a bucking animal to get hurt.
All types of cows and horses are natural buckers, as they do not hurt their back and legs when they buck. These animals will buck out in the pasture by themselves as they are not taim until somebody makes them taim. Bucking animals are likely to only get hurt from their own actions, not a persons. All of these animals have the same opportunity to be taken care of from a vet, and will be in the best hands possible. Rodeo people take extreme measures to make sure their animals are safe and injuries are taken care of properly.
Keeping animals safe during the rodeo is very important as they are required for a rodeo to happen. There are rules the rodeo associations have that provide safety for each animal at a rodeo. Competitors or people nearby have to follow these rules or they may be disqualified or fined for hurting an animal. The PRCA has very strict rules to keep animals safe and several other associations uphold these rules for their rodeos as well. For the people that purposely mistreat animals, there is a rule that any “member guilty of mistreatment of livestock anywhere on the rodeo grounds shall be fined $250 for the first offense with that fine progressively doubling with each offense thereafter’ from the rodeo association (Rodeo).
There are also equipment rules and regulations that must be followed like ‘the rowels on spurs are dull and will not hurt or cut an animal’ (Reiste, 2018). Spurs are to help an animal to go faster to buck harder but with their skin being five millimeters thick it will not hurt them. Spurs can be an abusive item if they are in the wrong hands but with other regulations from the rule book the person will be fined if used improperly. Another item used is called an electric prod, an electric prod has a very low amp of voltage that will not hurt the cow but can be improperly used.
There are specific rules in the PRCA rule book that states “animals may only be touched on the hip or the shoulder,” the thickest part of the cow’s skin. Electric prods are now rarely used on rodeo livestock during the envent. John Scheffler stated he has “never witnessed any electric prodding to make bulls or horses come flying out of their chutes’ (Scheffler, 2012). The electric prods are normally only used for moving the cows when they don’t want to move. Horn wraps are also equipment in the rule book that must be used, as it wraps around a steer’s horns and ears.
Horn wraps must be on team roping steers and steer wrestling steers to protect the skin around their head and their horns from getting hurt. There are also rules on how to handle the animals during each event. For example, in the event of calf-roping there is a rule for when the person jerks down a calf backwards onto it’s back after it is roped. There are several ways the roper can make sure they do not jerk the calf to hurt it’s neck or back, if so there will be fines and disqualifications for that contestant at the rodeo. There are a lot of other rules for each event for humane treatment of each animal for their safety. The rodeo livestock are not abused during each performance and have many regulations by the rodeo association to keep them safe.
Even though there are rodeo association rules there are also some states that prohibit rodeos and others have a serious list of rules that has to be followed during the event. Each state has a more broad set of rules for equipment and being abusive to animals rather than how to treat the animal in an event. The state rules also pertain to any people who do not listen to the association’s rules will be turned over to the police for justice. The people who abuse animals can have “penalties of up to one year in jail and/or $100,000 in fines” (Cowan, 2011).
This is going for the low percentage of people that do abuse animals during a rodeo or at home in the practice pen. In every state it is a law to not abuse animals but ‘many States have enacted laws establishing certain forms of cruelty to animals as felony offenses’ (Ascione). Whoever kills, tortures, or causes pain on purpose to an animal for them to suffer will proceed as a felony. This is not only during a rodeo but also at home during practice or at jackpots. During rodeos there are accidents that happen but intentional abusing of an animal will receive punishment for their crimes.
This will put fear into people’s eyes to not abuse the animals. There are also state crimes that regulate the equipment used. Laws against electric prods are established in most states as well as the association, along with rules for straps on the animals. Most states have a law that it is illegal for “any sharp, friction, or rubbing material to be placed on the strap’ to protect the animal (Esrock, 2012). A horse has a hide five millimeters thick and a bull has a hide seven millimeters thick, the straps that are fleece lined will not bother them at all. Straps for bucking bulls and horses are snugly wrapped around their stomach area. These straps are only touching their back and stomach not touching any other part of the body, almost like a belt.
These straps are not tied tight as they fall off after a few seconds of the animal bucking. State laws have also regulated indoor pens as each animal must be able to stand and lay down in the area. With that each animal also must have the adequate amount of food and water for them to stay healthy. The states have put many regulations in the laws that pertain to keeping animals safe. Rodeo associations must enforce these laws or the rodeos could be put to an end. These laws keep the safety for each animal at a rodeo to make sure they are healthy and safe.
People that do not know much about rodeos do not see the behind the scenes of the event. They do not see the money and effort to keep these animals safe. People that see rodeo as animal abuse have not been around the western lifestyle of this sport to help animals. Rodeo is a family oriented sport for all ages that brings honesty, responsibility, and toughness to take care of the animals. Each person that rodeos knows how to take care of each animal and the importance of healthy animals. Veterinarians are to make sure these animals get the proper care for each performance. With a long list of state laws, there are association laws that do not let people hurt animals at a rodeo without consequences. Rodeo animals are not abused, they are well taken care of and healthier than most other house animals.
