Bulls, like all other rodeo rough stock are considered to be elite athletes in their own right. They are thousands of pounds of muscle and bone that is admired and respected by the cowboys who ride them, stock contractors who secretly wish they owned them and by the fans who follow their career and statistics.
A bull’s rodeo career, on average, spans six to ten years; during which time he will have been coddled and looked after like any other professional athlete. When they are retired from the rodeo arena, their pampering regime will continue as they are turned out to pasture, so to speak, to live out the remainder of their life.
Many are given a new purpose in life by becoming one of the hundreds, if not thousands, of bulls in breeding programs around the world. Programs that promote the continued growth of premium rodeo stock through the use and reputation of retired bulls. A lucrative business that is enhanced even more when the bulls in the reproduction program have bucked off a large percentage of the cowboys who have tried to ride him during the animal’s career. It is not uncommon for sizeable amounts of money to be paid for straws of semen taken from a bull with a reputable rodeo history.
Their names are inducted into halls of fame, lyrics are written about them and rodeo announcers and colour commentators around the world compare their off-spring to these famous athletes. Their days in rodeo may be complete; however, long after these bulls have left the arena or are no longer alive the legendary ones continue to be acknowledged for their accomplishments or their notoriety of being a bad boy.
