Monday's the deadline to enter

From the Oakdale (Calif.) Cowboy Museum:

Entry Deadline for Rancher’s Day July 20

A Celebration of the 5^th Annual National Day of the American Cowboy

The July 20, deadline is quickly approaching for those entering the “Rancher’s Day” competition events at the 5^th Annual National Day of the American Cowboy Celebration on July 25, at the Oakdale Saddle Club Rodeo Grounds. The events include a two man rope and sort, a four man calf branding and a working cow dog class. There will also be a businessman’s calf branding to encourage friendly competition in the community. “This will be a fun way to celebrate the Cowboy as well as educate the public on real ranching work,” says Mary Guardiola CEO of the Oakdale Chamber of Commerce. This event is free to the public and it is sure to be entertaining. There will be a BBQ starting at noon for $10 per plate. If you’re interested in entering any of the events, please call or stop by the Oakdale Cowboy Museum for more information.

A cowboy hat area?

Last night I attended the mixer for this weekend's Red Bluff Round-Up rodeo, cosponsored by the Tehama County cattleman's and cattlewomen's organizations. It was a rockin' party with a couple hundred people, and the steak fajitas that the cattlewomen cooked for the crowd were awesome. I managed to pass around a few business cards, too.

There seems to be a bit of a controversy over media coverage at this year's rodeo. After a bull charged into the stands and injured a bunch of people last year -- a story of which I took part in the initial coverage -- the Round-Up organizers have imposed a bunch of rules and restrictions for reporters covering the rodeo. The new rules haven't gone over too well with some of the local press.

Go to an NFL or Major League Baseball game, and you have to have the proper credentials to get on the field, into the press box or into the dressing room, and it's been my experience (from earlier in my career) that the handling of access to athletes can be very intense. But one of the Round-Up's rules struck me as particularly funny: I've heard that in order to get into the area behind the bucking chutes, one has to wear a cowboy hat.

Now I've heard of hard-hat areas, but cowboy hat areas? Shoot, do many reporters at city papers or TV stations even own a cowboy hat? (I own about five, but that's beside the point.)

Are any Blogriculture/Capital Press readers going to Vegas for the National Finals Rodeo?

I won't be here or making any posts next week. I'm taking some vacation time and heading off to Las Vegas for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

A couple of years ago I filed some blog posts from the NFR here on Blogriculture. I won't be doing that this year, but I may posts some updates via cellphone to my Twitter account.

My family has had NFR tickets for years, and I've been fortunate to utilize one of the tickets most years since about 1995. I'm pretty excited about this year, which is the 50th NFR. The rodeo performances are always spectacular.

I've found my tastes in rodeo have changed over the years. When I was younger I preferred the rough stock events. But as I've gotten older, I've learned to appreciate the roping events more. And maybe it's because there are still a few guys in my age range competing in those events.

Even though this is a vacation, I still inevitably end up talking about Capital Press during the trip. That's probably because a lot of the people who are part of the tour group I go with are farmers and ranchers from Eastern Oregon, so agriculture is a common topic of conversation on the bus back and forth to the rodeo, or on the plane ride from Portland to Vegas. Sometimes the Capital Press even comes up with other people, like the time I was standing in line at a concession stand at the Thomas & Mack and a couple of guys behind me noticed my Capital Press shirt and asked me if I worked they. They said they were both subscribers, even though neither one of them lived in one of our 4 core coverage states. One was from Nevada and one was from Utah, if memory serves.

So, I won't be working next week, but I'll still be talking up farming, ranching, as well as roping and riding, with aggies here in the West.

I hope to see some of you in Vegas next week. I'll be one of the guys in the Capital Press caps with the tractor tread design.

Fit to be roped and tied

Have you seen the video of the 2-year old roper? Yes, I mean a rodeo-type roper. OK, maybe he's not riding horseback and flanking cattle — yet — but this young Oregonian is well on his way to becoming a calf roper or team roper or steer roper in the rodeo arena someday. Check out this video from Associated Press.

Getting caught up on odds and ends

I've been on vacation and haven't posted anything for a while, so I wanted to mention a few things to get myself back in a posting mode and share information that may be of interest to Capital Press and Blogriculture readers.

***

Kudos to fellow Capital Press staffer Steve Brown (and fellow Blogriculture blogger too I might add) for getting his recent video story about Christmas tree harvesting by helicopter mentioned in a post on the Oregonian newspaper's Oregonlive.com website earlier this month.

The boost in traffic to his YouTube video from that post has made it the most popular of the videos we've posted at Capital Press in our short video-posting history.

***

Speaking of Christmas tree video stories, the Associated Press recently posted a video about the debate over whether real or artificial trees may be better for the environment. You can check out the video here.

Or read a recent guest commentary piece published in the Capital Press on that issue by Joseph Sharp, president of Yule Tree Farms at Aurora, Ore., and chairman of the Coalition of Environmentally Responsible Growers.

Staff writer Elizabeth Larson also did a story on this issue in the Nov. 23 edition.

***

And, on a more personal note, the reason I was playing hooky last week was because I was down in Las Vegas for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. Last year, when I went to the NFR I took a laptop along and posted some blog updates from Las Vegas on the rodeo.

We don't really cover rodeo at the Capital Press, but there is an obvious link between the sport and agriculture, and farming and ranching news in the West is what the Capital Press. Rodeo grew out of the skills needed in ranching and working with livestock. The people who compete in rodeo largely come from ranching backgrounds and maintain farms or ranches in addition to their competitive lives. The stock contractors are specialized ranchers. And I would be willing to wager that the core of the rodeo fan base comes from the greater agriculture community. Rodeo is not only part of the Western lifestyle it is also a part of the agribusiness economy.

So, needless to say, it was difficult not to think about work when I was surrounded by farmers and ranchers from Umatilla County who make the annual trek to Vegas for the NFR.

But if you are craving some Wrangler National Finals Rodeo news, check out columnist Butch Thurman's dispatch from Las Vegas. Capital Press print readers will get the column in their paper Friday, but you can read it online now on the Capital Press website. You can even read more of Butch's columns there.

OSU leaders saddle up for parade

Scott Reed, Ed Ray and Thayne Dutson lead the Oregon State University contingency that took part in the Pendleton Round-Up Westward Ho! Parade on Sept. 14. (Photo courtesy of Betsy Hartley/OSU)


If you want to take part in a non-motorized rodeo parade, then you need to be able to ride a horse — as demonstrated by three leaders from Oregon State University who took part in the Pendleton Round-Up Westward Ho! Parade last week.

Scott Reed, the Vice-Provost for Outreach, Engagement and Extension, President Ed Ray, and Thayne Dutson, Dean and Director of the Experiment Stations from the College of Agricultural Sciences led their OSU group that included OSU Alumni, 4-H members on horses, OSU friends and Benny the Beaver.

Technorati tags: Agriculture

Round-Up brings people home again

The school I attended in northeast Oregon was small. Really small. So small that individual classes don't even attempt to have class reunions because if they did, the number of attendees would probably all be able to fit in the cab of a four-door pickup.

Every so often Echo High School will have an all-years or multi-year reunion and try to get pretty much any graduates to come back. But from many of us from that part of the country, there is sort of an unofficial reunion held each year during the Pendleton Round-Up. That is the time of year when many of us who no longer live in the community try to return home to visit family and see old friends.

I was fortunate last week to attend the 97th Pendleton Round-Up and see friends and family that I don't get to see nearly often enough. But unlike many Round-Up reunion celebrants, my primary reason for being in Pendleton was work. I was invited to help out the East Oregonian for the week. The EO is one of the Capital Press' sister newspapers and it's always nice to be able to help out family.

I wish to express my thanks and appreciation to the EO family for their hospitality during the week. My family also helped me out by providing accommodations and a few meals, which I'm sure my employers will appreciate, as that will be a few less costs to have to pay.

In bigger communities, it seems like there are activities and events going on pretty much every weekend. Some large, some small. But there is something electric and magical about smaller communities that put their heart and soul into one big event each year.

I was just one of thousands of former residents, and thousands more regular visitors, to make the trek to northeast Oregon last week. Whether for work, or for pleasure, it's good to visit the place and the people you come from now and again. Thanks for the great homecoming gathering.

A new record

We've reached a milestone here at Blogriculture. This month we have posted more blog entries than ever before.

We have eclipsed our previous total of 37 entries set in a month that was set in September 2006. Elaine Shein, our executive editor, has done the bulk of the heavy lifting with her posts this month, but it was also good to see some entries from other team members. We also have added regular contributions every Friday from Kevin Duling.

If you like the observations our team members are making on a variety of issue, please take a moment to post a comment on their entries. They will be more likely to keep up their posting if they know people are reading them and appreciate the things they have to say.

***

Speaking of eclipses, there will be an eclipse of the lunar variety overnight tonight. Here in the Pacific time zone, the event will last from 1:51 a.m. Tuesday morning until 5:24 a.m., according to the folks at NASA. So if you are up real early to cut hay, or if you are out late cutting a rug, look up and catch some of the show.

***

As I mentioned earlier, last September was our previous top month for blog posts. That's in part because of multiple entries made last September related to the Pendleton Round-Up.
In a way, the Capital Press' entrance into blogging is tied to the annual fall rodeo. It was back in September 2005 when I made the first posts for what eventually evolved into the Blogriculture site related to the Capital Press coverage of the rodeo. Last year the blog was the focus of our coverage of that event.

For good or ill, the Capital Press won't be covering the Round-Up for 2007, at least not directly. We are going to rely on our sister paper, the East Oregonian for whatever rodeo coverage we will publish this year. The Round-Up is the signature event for the East Oregonian, and no devotes more time, energy and space to covering the rodeo and its related activities than the EO.

As for me, I'm going to do my part to help out our sister publication by lending them a hand during rodeo week. So, I may try to offer up a few dispatches from the Round-Up City if I can. but mostly I'm there to be just another hand helping out when and where needed to give their staff an opportunity to do what they do best. I suspect the best help I can offer for the week will be manning a computer and working a desk, rather than spending time in and around the arena watching cowboy and cowgirl athletes compete with, and against, some of the best livestock athletes around.

So, we won't be posting live updates from the arena this year, rodeo fans, but look to the East Oregonian for details and information on the Pendleton Round-Up leading up to and during its run Sept. 12-15.

This blog got its start at the rodeo, but it's grown a lot since September 2005. We hope that now that you've found it, you find something that interests you and keeps you coming back.

Coleman wins top American cowboy title

As July 4th draws closer, there is more promotion everywhere for rodeos that are taking place here in the West, including the ones in St. Paul and Mollala, Ore.

Last year, organizers of the St. Paul Rodeo explained that July 4 is like Christmas for cowboys: there is a flurry of rodeos and some of the best cash prizes are offered. Cowboys will rush to as many of the rodeos as they can, often by private airplane if they can, to try to earn some of the prize money.

For rodeo lovers, it’s a real treat to see some of the best cowboys competing in small as well as large rodeos. It’s even better when some of their local heroes are taking part.

In Oregon, the Coleman family is among those who have been popular with crowds. In an interview at his ranch a year ago near Mollala, former rodeo champion Steve Coleman showed the rodeo arena he built for his kids to train for rodeo events. When they weren’t training, the arena was used to store bales for his hay business.

Two of Steve’s sons — Ross and Mitch Coleman — have shown themselves to be quite accomplished on the rodeo circuit, although neither of them competed in any events at St. Paul last year.

Steve was still very involved, serving as the chute boss. He decided which cowboy was ready to go out of the chutes, and in matters of seconds the cowboys were victorious or bit the dust of defeat.

Ross Coleman is usually is the center of attention for his success as a bullrider and also for his ATV commercials. In mid-June, an injury on his knee led to a staf infection that required some surgery, and he will need four to six weeks to recover.

Meanwhile, Christmas came early for Ross’ 21-year-old brother Mitch Coleman, who has gained more national recognition in the last few weeks.

Mitch was taking part in the CMT search for “America’s Top Cowboy” described as the “ultimate, great American cowboy.” Besides the title, the winner of the six contestants received $50,000.

The proud older brother Ross posted on his website the results: “Just wanted to announce that my younger brother, Mitch won America’s Next Top Cowboy! He was on a TV show on CMT and kicked their butt! He competed against 6 other cowboys and took the top prize of $50,000 dollars. We are all so proud of him and knew he could do it.”

CMT on its website introduced Mitch to an audience that might not have been familiar with him: “Mitch considers himself an “All Around Cowboy” who can ride bucking horses and bulls, rope calves, team rope, bulldog, win at the rodeo and come home to work on the ranch. He has won numerous All Around titles in Rodeos and Ranch Rodeos, and he competes in the PRCA and the PBR.”

The other five contestants were also played up for what they can do. Scott Whinfrey, from California, was described as the following on the website: “He can ride, rope, move cattle, doctor animals, make tack, cook, sleep on the ground, build and fix fences, pack horses, shoe, sing sad cowboys songs, play guitar, brand, castrate, butcher, and drive a truck; plus he can do it all in Spanish. He has ridden bulls in amateur rodeos in Oregon, Washington, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Australia.”

Each one of the contestants was impressive in what they have accomplished in the past, as well as what they could do in the competition. To emerge as the winner, Mitch Coleman showed just how much he learned from his father and the local rodeos, and those hours of practice with his family and friends in the big arena on their ranch.

CMT’s list of contestants included:

Bradley Harter — Bronc Riding Champion from Weatherford, TX

Chad Klein — a third generation cowboy from Stephenville, TX

Jason Patrick — expert horse trainer from Steamboat Springs, CO.

Jason Vohs — champion “tie down” roper from Las Vegas, NV

Mitch Coleman — “All around Cowboy” for Oregon state from Molalla, OR

Scott Whinfrey — internationally competitive ranch cowboy from Silt, CO.

The competition included “livestock roundups, horseback shooting contests, bronc busting and a cowboy triathlon event,” and CMT described some of the challenges before it even started: “Some will be physically drained from the riding, roping and calf wrestling, while others will contend with stage fright during the local Honky Tonk talent show. Throughout each event, the guys will be evaluated on their sportsmanship, ability and overall passion for ranching.”

Even though the Colemans have shown themselves successful on the rodeo circuit, anyone who has met the Colemans can see and understand how deep that passion for ranching runs in several generations of the family.

It’s only fitting that it should be a Western cowboy that earned that top American cowboy title.

Technorati tags: Agriculture
Ross Coleman
Steve Coleman
Mitch Coleman
CMT
rodeo
Mollala Rodeo
St. Paul Rodeo
Oregon

Rodeo rides on big Shoulders

Butch Thurman, a contributing rodeo columnist for the Capital Press and president of the Pendleton Round-Up, wrote a special column this week about the death of rodeo's biggest champion ever, Jim Shoulders.

The legendary cowboy died this week at 79.

Butch's column is not available in this week's print editions of Capital Press, it is only available online.

I never got a chance to see Shoulders ride. His dominance of professional rodeo ended before I was born, but his name and legacy is known to all rodeo fans. But now, even those of us who didn't get a chance to see Shoulders ride live, can watch him now, thanks to the Internet, and the site Rodeo Up from the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, which has been described as a YouTube-type site for cowboys.

I've tried embedding the video here, but if it doesn't work, click here.


Good ride cowboy. Thanks for all you did for the sport of professional rodeo, inspiring generations of champions.

Thanks for the link, Dale Jr.

I just sent the following note to some members of the Capital Press staff:

Guess what website is referring the most traffic to our site today.

OK, I won’t keep you in suspense. It’s a website called www.dalejrpitstop.com. NASCAR racing fans may realized that the website is a site devoted to one of auto racing’s most popular drivers, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

So far today we’ve got at least 72 visitors from that site. And so far in this young month we’ve had at least 294 visits coming from that site. Why, would NASCAR fans be coming to our site today and this month? It’s because of a link from the Dale Jr. site to ours, specifically to Butch Thurman’s rodeo column, which mentioned a bull riding event that Earnhardt was a host/sponsor for that was held recently.

We’ve also picked up at least a dozen links to our site from the Profession Bull Riders website, pbrnow.com.

To which I received the following reply from our executive editor and fellow Blogriculture blogger Elaine Shein:

From now on, EVERY blog, story, opinion piece, and breaking news item published on our website MUST include the following words;
NASCAR
Dale Earnhardt
Britney Spears
PBR
Rodeo

And any other words that you think will draw traffic. Well, except for the word sex. I can only imagine what type of messages angry web surfers will leave behind when they find out we are writing about artificial insemination instead of whatever they thought we were writing about.

Do you think she was kidding? I think she was kidding.

But I better start digging up some details on Britney just in case. If anyone sees anything about Britney and Dale Jr. starting a program to breed bulls for the PBR circuit on a ranch in California, please let me know.

By the way, have you noticed that pull riders and other rodeo cowboys are looking a lot more like NASCAR drivers in recent years with all those sponsorship patches all over the place?

Maybe farmers need to seek out endorsement deals to supplement their income.

Technorati tags: Agriculture, NASCAR, rodeo, blogging

Bull riders play in NY, farmers work in Salt Lake

At times over the last two years, I've played at being a rodeo reporter. I've posted updates from the Pendleton Round-Up in 2005 and 2006 and made some blog posts from the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas last month. But if would like to see some regular updates on what's happening in professional rodeo, here's your chance to speak up.

Veteran radio/rodeo man Butch Thurman of Pendleton, Ore., is offering the Capital Press the opportunity to run his column on a trial basis to see if our readers are interesting in reading his comments on a regular basis.

Butch has covered rodeo for 27 years and this year, in addition to his radio duties, which includes doing a daily radio show on rodeo and his weekly column, he's got another little side gig. Thurman is this year's president of the Pendleton Round-Up board of directors.

So, check out his column about bull riders taking on the Big Apple and let us know if you like it.

***

Capital Press Executive Editor Elaine Shein and California Editor Bob Krauter will be in Salt Lake City this weekend for the American Farm Bureau Federation convention. They will be posting updates from Salt Lake City.

Bob previews the convention here. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns will address the conference. Check for updates beginning Sunday and early next week on capitalpress.com.

***

On another note, I'm still making mistakes, and still learning, about this whole podcasting thing. I ended up having to re-post Episode 7 of the Farmers' Capital Press Agriculture Podcast today. When I posted it yesterday, for some reason the file had about 5 minutes of dead air at the end of the file. I would have though the blank portion wouldn't add to the files size, but I would have been wrong. Dead air makes for a big file.

Who knew?

So, I lopped off the dead are and reposted the file.

Live and learn.

If your iTunes subscription downloaded the big file, my apologies. Someday maybe I'll get all this stuff figured out.

***
Technorati tags: Agriculture, American Farm Bureau Federation, Rodeo, Podcasting

Bucked off by a cold

Well, I'm back from Vegas, and didn't bring the deed to any casinos with me, but I did bring back a nasty cold.

Some people say a summer cold is the worst cold to have. I'm not so sure. I think whatever cold you have at the time is the worst cold to have. So, I'm fighting a cough, runny nose and depleted energy (I'm sure you were just dying to know all that).

But I wanted to make a post and thank all the people who are stopping in to read the post on the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. If you have any comments on the posts, feel free to add those. I'd love to hear whether you find the information interesting or helpful. And if you were there (or watched on TV) feel free to add your observations as well.

Technorati tags: Blogging, Cold and flu, National Finals Rodeo, Agriculture

Timed events provide last-day drama at NFR

LAS VEGAS -- With several world titles already decided going into today's final round of the National Finals, it was up to the timed-event contestants to provide the excitement on the last day in front of a record crowd of 18,224 fans at the Thomas & Mack Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Joe Beaver of Huntsville, Texas, had no way to catch Trevor Brazile of Decatur, Texas, for the world all-around cowboy title, but he didn't slow down in the final round and came away with the all-around title for the 2006 Wrangler National Finals.

Beaver and his partner Cole Bigbee of Stephenville, Texas, won the 10th round in the team roping with a time of 3.9 seconds today. Beaver and Bigbee also tied for first in Friday's 9th round and won money in five of the 10 rounds in the event.

The NFR all-around race was tight going into today between Beaver and Brazile, the only two two-event cowboys in this year's National Finals. Brazile and his partner Rich Skelton of Llano, Texas, had also won money in five of the 10 rounds but never place higher than third in a round. In today's final round they recorded a no time, leaving the door open for Beaver.

Beaver closed the door on Brazile in the calf roping. Beaver roped his calf in 8.2 seconds to place fifth in the round, the seventh round in which Beaver placed in the money, including one go-round win in round one.. Brazile's time of 8.6 was good enough for sixth place in the round, and won money in five rounds. Beaver also finished higher in the average in the calf roping, which earned him even more money.

Cody Ohl of Hico, Texas, preserved his first place spot in the average by tying for the win in the round with a run of 7.5 seconds. Scott Kormos of Teague, Texas, also had a 7.5-second time. Ohl had already wrapped up the world title and just missed setting a new average record for the NFR in the event.

In the team roping Chad Masters of Clarksville, Tenn., and Allen Bach of Weatherford, Texas, needed three loops to preserve their top spot in the average with a 20.9-second run. It wasn't pretty but the average money, two round wins and placing in five rounds gave Bach the world title as a heel roper. It wasn't enough to lift Masters to a title spot though, and the team roping world champions were members of different teams for the first time this year. The world champion header is Matt Sherwood of Queen Creek, Ariz. He and his partner, Walt Woodard of Stockton, Calif., turned in a 4.1-second run today to place fourth in the round and place fifth in the average.

In the steer wrestling, Luke Branquinho of Los Alamos, Calif., was leading the world standings by nearly $12,000 before today's round, but that wasn't enough. Dean Gorsuch of Gering, Neb., placed second in the round with a 3.6-second run behind K.C. Jones round-winning time of 3.5 seconds. That $12,662 payday would have been enough to win the title, but Branquinho split third and fourth place money with a run of 3.9 seconds.

However, Gorsuch also won the average title, which added another $41,000 to his winnings, which pushed him past Branquinho for the world title too.

In the barrel racing, Brittany Pozzi of Victoria, Texas, was the biggest money winner in the regular season, and was the picture of consistency in the NFR with 10 penalty-free runs to win the average title. However, she only won money in two rounds. And that was not enough to overcome a run by Mary Burger of Pauls Valley, Okla., who finished third in the average and day-monied the rest of the field to death to earn a world title in her first trip to the NFR.

Burger won money in nine of the 10 rounds, including a second place finish today with a 13.75-second run, her best finish of the NFR.

Burger was also able to hold off a run by Kelly Maben of Spur, Texas, who won five of the 10 rounds, including today's final round, which she won with a time of 13.67 seconds. Maben place in seven of the 10 rounds, but she knocked down barrels in three other rounds, which added 5 seconds onto her times in each of those rounds.

In the saddle bronc event, Jesse Bail of Camp Crook, S.D. and Bryce Miller of Buffalo, S.D., tied for the 10th round win with scored of 89 today. J.J. Elshere took the average title and Chad Ferley punctuated this world title run by scoring 87 points to place third. Cody DeMoss, who was injured two nights ago, did not ride in the final round.

In the bareback riding, three riders split first in the round with 85.5-point scores. They are Bobby Mote of Culver, Ore.; Forest Bramwell of Pagosa Springs, Colo.; and Kelly Timberman of Mills, Wyo. But it was the guy who placed fourth in the round that took home both the average and world titles. Will Lowe of Canyon, Texas, scored the big hardware in the event and 85 points in the round.

In the bull riding, B.J. Schumacher of Hillsboro, Wis., was again one of the few bright spots in the round on his way to the average and world titles. Schumacher had one of only two qualified rides with a spectacular 92.5-point ride on appropriately named bull Cash Prize from Growney Brothers. In an event plagued by injuries with three cowboys out and buckoffs round after round, Schumacher had eight qualified rides out of the 10 rounds. The next closest cowboy was Bobby Welsh of Gillette, Wyo., with five scores.

Fred Boettcher of Rice Lake, Wis., had the only other qualified ride of the day with an 84.5-point score on the bull Biloxi Blues from Southwick Robertson Wilson.

***

I'm not quite sure when I became a rodeo fan, but early on, when I was covering rodeos (namely the Pendleton Round-Up) as a photographer, my favorite events were the rough stock events. They made the most spectacular pictures and you could get closest to the action, to take those photos, although not without some peril due to the unpredictability of where the animals may go.

But over the years, I've come to appreciate the timed events more. Maybe that's because I've aged, and those are events that the more veteran cowboys can still be competitive in. Guys like Allen Bach, who won a world title this year at age 49 and has qualified for the NFR 24 times, can compete with those young guys.

I've also grown to appreciate the barrel racing too. In some of my early trips to the NFR, the barrel racing was my cue to get up and go to the restroom or get another beer. But this year, the barrel racers provided some of the best excitement of the NFR. They set two new arena records. You had a tight race for the title and some amazingly fast times. I feel kind of bad for Kelly Maben, who was far and away the fasted run after run over the 10 days. But for penalties in three runs, she would undoubtedly be the average and world champion. But you have to feel good for Mary Burger, who at 58 was making her first trip to the NFR and earns a world title to boot.

It's been a memorable NFR. Thanks for letting me share some of my thoughts and observations on the last few days with you.

My traveling companions, mostly farmers and ranchers from Umatilla County in Oregon, will be heading back home tomorrow. Since we're traveling with a group, the hotel staff where we are staying is going to start picking out bags up at 4:45 a.m. in the morning, and we'll be loading onto a bus about 6 a.m. So now, the last big question of my Vegas trip is whether to pull an all nighter and sleep on the plane trip home, or catch a little shut eye.

Prudence dictates sleep. But who practices prudence in Las Vegas?

Technorati tags:
National Finals Rodeo, Las Vegas, Rodeo, Agriculture

World, NFR champions crowned

LAS VEGAS -- Meet the 2006 world and Wrangler National Finals Rodeo champions.

World titles

All-around cowboy -- Trevor Brazile, Decatur, Texas.
Bareback -- Will Lowe, Canyon, Texas
Steer wresting -- Dean Gorsuch, Gering, Neb.
Team roping
Header -- Matt Sherwood, Queen Creek, Ariz.
Heeler -- Allen Bach, Weatherford, Texas
Saddle bronc -- Chad Ferley, Oelrichs, S.D.
Tie-down roping -- Cody Ohl, Hico Texas
Barrel racing, Mary Burger, Pauls Valley, Okla.
Bull riding -- B.J. Schumacher, Hillsboro, Wis.

NFR average champions (the best performances in 10 rounds of the NFR)

All-around cowboy -- Joe Beaver, Huntsville, Texas
Bareback -- Will Lowe, Canyon, Texas
Steer wresting -- Deen Gorsuch, Gering, Neb.
Team roping -- Chad masters of Clarsville, Tenn. And Allen Bach of Weatherford, Texas
Saddle bronc -- J.J. Elshere, Quin, S.D.
Tie-down roping -- Cody Ohl, Hico, Texas
Barrel racing -- Brittany Pozzi, Victoria, Texas
Bull riding -- B.J. Schumacher, Hillsboro, Wis.

Technorati tags:
National Finals Rodeo, Las Vegas, Rodeo, Agriculture

It ain't over till the last bull bucks...

LAS VEGAS -- But some of the drama of this year's Wrangler National Finals Rodeo is already over.

There's still one more go-round to go, but some of the world champion buckle winners have already been decided.

Trevor Brazile of Decatur, Texas, will win his fourth world all-around title. He just has too much of a lead on Joe Beaver of Huntsville, Texas, for Beaver to catch him.

Will Lowe of Canyon, Texas, will win his first world title in the bareback riding. The 23-year old may also win the NFR average title, as he is the leading cowboy in the event going into Saturday's final round. Lowe scored 78.5 points tonight to place fifth in the ninth round and maintain his lead in the average over Bobby Mote of Culver, Ore.

Cimmaron Gerke of Brighton, Colo., 2005's co-world champion in the event, won the ninth round with an 83.5-point ride on the horse Moulon Rouge from Growney Brothers.

In the calf roping, or as it's called now the tie-down roping, Cody Ohl of Hico, Texas, has cemented his second world title in that event. But that doesn't mean the drama is over in the calf roping or for Ohl. Ohl is leading the average in the event and has a chance to set a new average record in the event. The current NFR average record of 10 calves roped in 84.0 seconds is held be Fred Whitfield and was set in 1997. Ohl has roped nine calves in 76.8 seconds. He placed second in tonight's round with a time of 7.4 seconds.

If Ohl can rope a calf in 7.1 seconds or faster during Saturday's final round, he will set a new average record. Ohl owns the arena record with a time of 6.5 seconds set in 2003. But to set the average record he will have to rope faster than he has so far in this year's NFR, where his fastest time was a round-winning 7.2-second run in round two. Ohl has won money in every round of this year's NFR except the first round.

The round winner tonight was Clint Robinson of Spanish Fork, Utah, with a time of 7.3 seconds. Robinson spit first place money in round eight as well on Thursday night.

There isn't much drama left in the bull riding for Saturday's final round. B.J. Shumacher of Hillsboro, Wisc., has locked up the world title and the average title. Although he did not have a qualified ride tonight, he's the only bull rider to have scored rides on seven bulls. The next closest competitors for the average title have only covered five.

Tonight's round featured the eliminator pen of bulls and they lived up to their reputation. Only one cowboy had a qualified ride tonight. Bobby Welsh of Gillette, Wyo., scored 85 points on Multi-Chem Western Hauler of the Cervi & Guidry stock contractors. It was a big payday for Welsh, who takes all of the day money for all six places, meaning he will pocket nearly $51,700. Not a bad jackpot for Welsh.

In the steer wrestling, Shawn Greenfield of Lakeview, Ore., is keeping the pressure on Dean Gorsuch of Gering, Neb., for the title in that event. Greenfield placed first in tonight's round with a 3.4 second run to pocket $16,000. Greenfield is third in the world standings behind Luke Branquinho of Los Alamos, Calif., and Gorsuch. Branquinho and Gorsuch both had runs in the 5-second range tonight to finish out of the money, tightening up the world standings. However, Gorsuch has an ace in the hole. He is leading the average, and the average pays $41,000 for first, $33,300 for seconds and $26,360 for third. Branquinho is sixth in the average, which pays $10,000. Greenfield is eight in the average, which pays about $3,900.

It would take a better mathematician than me to figure out all of the scenarios, but if Gorsuch has a qualified time Saturday, he is likely to leapfrog over Branquinho with the average paycheck to earn his first world title.

I'm not even going to try to sort out the team roping race, which is tight and could will come down to the final round. After Thursday's round, which announcer Boyd Polhamus called a "train wreck" with six no-time runs out of 15, there was only one no-time tonight. Joe Beaver and Cole Bigbee tied with David Key and Kory Koontz for first in the round with 4.4-second runs. The leaders in the world standings, Matt Sherwood and Walt Woodard were right behind them to finish third with a 4.5-second run.

After Thursday's train wreck, it's still a horse race for the world title in team roping.

There were lots of wrecks Friday in the saddle bronc event, which also featured an eliminator pin of horses. And Chad Ferley of Oelrichs, S.D., who was second in the world standings going into tonight's round, tied for first in the round with an 84-point ride on the Growney Brother's paint horse Painted Feathers to clinch a world title for himself.

Bradley Harter of Weatherford, Texas, also had an 84-point ride on his draw, Sun Dance from Flying Five Rodeo.

Ferley's ride moves him ahead of Cody DeMoss of Heflin, La., in the world standings and he also moves to second in the average. DeMoss won't be able to regain his top spot. DeMoss is hurt. He chipped three vertebrae in his back in a nasty buckoff Thursday night and barely got out of the gate tonight before hitting the turf again. DeMoss was again helped from the arena and got a standing ovation from the crowd.

J.J. Elshere of Quinn, S.D., remains in first in the average race, but he got bucked off for the first time in the 2006 NFR tonight courtesy of the Growney Bros. horse, Sock Dancer.

The barrel racing continues to thrill the crowd at the Thomas & Mack. That arena record I told you about on Wednesday was eclipsed Thursday by Brandie Halls of Carpenter, Wyo., with a 13.52-second run.

There was no new record tonight, but the top five times were all less than 14 seconds. In fact the difference between first and fifth place was 4/100ths of a second. First place went to Denise Adams of Lufkin, Texas, with a run of 13.86 seconds.

Kelly Maben of Spur, Texas, the leader in the world standings going into the night, knocked down a barrel on her run for the second straight night. That opens a door for Mary Burger of Pauls Valley, Okla., and Brittany Pozzi of Victoria, Texas. Burger placed fifth in tonight's round to earn a check to move her ahead of Maben in the standings. Burger also moves up to third in the average. But Pozzi is leading the average. So the world champion in barrel racing remains close and will be decided on the final day of the NFR.

***

The livestock have been taking a toll on the cowboys in this year's NFR, but during round nine a couple of the animal contestants were also injured.

The horse Faded Star from Andrews Rodeo Inc., stumbled in the arena after bucking off Jesse Bail of Camp Crook, S.D., in the saddle bronc event. During the ride Faded Star jumped high into the air several times before dismounting Bail and both fell to the arena turf. The horse got back up but was obviously hurt. The 17,000 people in the arena emitted an audible gasp out of concern for the limping horse, which left the arena under its own power, but was escorted by the two pickup men on horseback to prevent the animal from thrashing about and injuring itself further.

I hope to hear more about the animals condition and report back. But if anyone things rodeo fans don't care about the animals, they should have heard the murmur tonight in the arena for that amazing bucking horse.

Update: The horse, Faded Star suffered what veterinarian Garth Lamb called a "distal radial fracture of the left front limb" in the incident, according to ESPN. Lamb reportedly called the injury a non-repairable fracture and was euthanized.

Fans also expressed concern when a calf was injured in the calf roping event. A calf roped by Jerome Schneeberger of Ponca City, Okla., was injured during the run and a stretcher was brought in to carry the animal out of the arena to be checked out by the veterinary staff as well.

Update: PRCA officials also reported that the calf that was injured suffered a fatal neck injury.

See more news, and analysis from ESPN's website.

That's all for now. I hope to be back Saturday night with highlights from the final round.

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If fans judged rodeos a cowboy on 'Wild Woman' would win

LAS VEGAS -- There was a time when the bull riding event was the highlight of any rodeo, and the Wrangler National Finals rodeo in particular. But the Professional Bull Riders tour has stolen some of the best talent from the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association events.

There were only five qualified rides in bull riding in round 7 of the 2006 NFR tonight at the Thomas & Mack arena on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus.

The most excitement in the event was generated by B.J. Schumacher of Hillsboro, Wisc. He turned in an 84-point ride to win the event and maintain his place at top of the NFR average and earnings lists. Schumacher has also overcome Matt Austin to lead the world standings. Austin had been leading going into the NFR but is out with an injury.

Zeb Lanham of Sweet, Idaho, and Wesley Silcox of Payson, Utah, turned in rides of 63 and 60 points respectively and earned the options to reride for higher scores, but were able to pass on the options and still place fourth and fifth in the round and earn money on the day.

The barrel racers were again one of the highlights of the round, with all top six placers turning in runs of less than 14 seconds.

Denise Adams of Lufkin, Texas, won the round with a 13.67-second time, just 9/100ths off the arena record set the night before by Kelly Maben.

Maben again turned in another fast time of 13.79 seconds, but that was only good enough for sixth place in the round. Maben was leading the NFR earnings and the world standings going into tonight's round. Mary Burger of Pauls Valley, Okla., was in second place in the world standings, but her 13.78-second time was good enough for fifth place in the round, meaning she will narrow Maben's lead in the world standings.

Another highlight of the night was the first event of the night, the bareback riding. It certainly was a favorite with the Oregon contingent I was sitting with. Bobby Mote of Culver, Ore., turned in an 84.5-point ride to win the event on Oakey Robin from Bar T Rodeo.

However, if fan reaction led cowboys to the pay window, the winner of the bareback event would have been Tom McFarland of Wickenburg, Ariz. McFarland rode a high-jumping whirling top of horse by the name of "Wild Woman" from Burch Rodeo to an 82-point ride, which tied him for sixth in the event.

Another Oregonian almost came away with the big check in the steer wresting, but a Californian took it away.

Luke Branquinho of Los Alamos, Calif., shook his booty again in the arena tonight and won the round with a 3.9-second run. Branquinho, who tied for first in Tuesday night's round, has now placed first in four of the seven rounds and won money in five of the seven rounds to top the NFR earnings list in the steer wresting. He's making a move on Dean Gorsuch of Gering, Nebr., who was leading the world standings prior to tonight's go-round. (By the way, hello to any of my family from Gering or Scottsbluff who may somehow stumble on this entry).

Branquinho's run edged out Shawn Greenfield of Lakeview, Ore., who had been leading most of the night with his 4.0-second run.

The other big development out of the steer wresting happened when NFR average leader Stockton Graves of Newkirk, Okla., dropped out of the average lead when he recorded a no-time on his steer tonight. That should move Gorsuch into the average lead, which could help him hold off both Branquinho and Greenfield in the world title race. They are both out of the average race and are only riding for day money in their title bids.

Nick Sartain and Shannon Fascht of Alva, Okla., won the seventh round of the team roping tonight with a 4.1-second run. Finishing second were Matt Sherwood of Queen Creek, Ariz., and Walt Woodard of Stockton, Calif., with a run of 4.3 seconds.

Sherwood and Woodard are making bids for world titles and gained ground on leaders Speed Williams of DeLeon, Texas, and the legendary Clay O'Brien Cooper of Morgan Mill, Texas. Williams and Cooper had a no-time tonight and are now out on two head in the average race. Chad Masters of Clarksville, Tenn., and another legend, Allen Bach of Weatherford, Texas, were leading the average going into tonight's round and tied for fourth in the round with a 4.6-second run. So that world title race could get quite interesting before all is said and done Saturday.

In the saddle bronc event, Cody "Hot Sauce" DeMoss of Heflin, La., scored 87.5 points on Night Moves from Beutler & Son Rodeo Co. to win the round. He edged five-time world champion Billy Etbauer of Edmonds, Okla., who has qualified for the NFR a record-tying 18 times. He's been here every year since 1989, tying the record set by Tom Reeves from 1985-2002.

Etbauer, who at 43 is the oldest competitor in this year's saddle bronc event, scored 83.5 points on a horse named for the Sam's Town casino here in Vegas from Flying U Rodeo.

In the calf roping Chubbuck, Idaho's, Matt Shiozawa put the shazzam on the field again with a 6.9-second time to win the round after also winning Tuesday night's round. Shiozawa was fourth in NFR earnings going into the night and in fifth place in the world standings.

But it will take a lot to catch the world leader in the event, Cody Ohl, of Hico, Texas. Ohl was leading by more then $60,000 in the standings over Trevor Brazile. Ohl finished fourth in the round and leads the average in the event. Brazile finished out of the money in the round and was 9th in the average going into tonight. At third in the world standings is Joe Beaver of Huntsville, Texas, and he again finished in the money, placing 6th. He was fourth in the average going into tonight.

Brazile, however, could have a virtual lock on the all-around title. He leads Beaver my more than $110,000 in that race. I'm sure the PRCA or ESPN statisticians could figure out all the math of it, but there just doesn't seem to be enough days or dollars left in the NFR for Beaver to claim his ninth all-around title this year. But stay tuned.

Get the latest official results from ESPN and the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association as soon as they are available through this link.

One housekeeping note: I may not be posting results and commentary after Thursday's Round 8 of the National Finals Rodeo. Yes, I will be there and yes I will be keeping track of scores in my day sheet, but I've got somewhere to go after the rodeo. My brother Dean has tickets to a concert and he's offered to take me. Seems only right that I accept his generous offer, as he's tagged along with me to shows in previous NFR years.

So at this point I'm not expecting to be posting after the rodeo tomorrow, but I plan to be back Friday night (unless I get a better offer). Hey, it's Vegas, a guy can always dream can't he?

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Ladies steal spotlight at NFR

LAS VEGAS -- Of the seven events in the Nationals Finals Rodeo, women only compete in one. But the cowgirls stole the show tonight in the 6th performance of the 2006 Wrangler National Finals.

Kelly Maben, of Spur, Texas, who won Monday night's round in the barrel racing, did it again Tuesday night. Of the six rounds so far, Maben has won four of them, out of 15 contestants. But tonight she did it in record time. Her 13.58-second run was five one hundredths faster than the previous record of 13.63 set by Tammy Key in 2002.

Mabel also leads the world standing in the event.

All the barrel racers who finished in the money were blistering fast, with the top six places all running in times faster than 14 seconds.

The bull riders have been hard hit with injuries at the NFR, with three of the top 15 riders now out due to injuries suffered in the finals, including Matt Austin of Wills Point, Texas, the leader in the world standings, who is out for the rest of the event.

B.J. Schumacker of Hillsboro, Wisc., who was the top money winner in the NFR going into tonight's round and lead the average got another qualified ride and tied for fourth in the round. He finished in the money again as only five of the 12 bullriders stayed onboard for 8-seconds.

Dustin Elliott of North Platte, Neb., had the top score of the night in the event with an 88.5 on the bull Foolish Man from Southwich Robertson Wilson stock contractors.

Another Wisconsin cowboy, Fred Boettcher, came in second in the round with an 88 on the bull Red Carpet from Beutler & Son.

The calf ropers also had a rough night of it, with four no-times in that event, including one for 2005 world champion Fred Whitfield of Hockley, Texas.

It was an Idaho hand that one the event tonight. Matt Shiozawa of Chubbuck, Idaho, turned in at 7.2-second run to improve his position. Shiozawa had been 6th in NFR earning in the event.

Joe Beaver, who was leading in NFR earning going into tonight's round turned in a solid run of 8.3 seconds to finish fifth. Beaver won the opening round, and had second and third place finished before stumbling in rounds four and five in his bid for the calf roping and all-around titles. He was fourth in the world standings going into tonight's round.

Cody Ohl, who was leading the world standings and was third in NFR earnings going into tonight turned in a 7.9-second run to finish third in the round.

Other winners in tonight's rounds included Royce Ford of Briggsdale, Colo., who turned in an 87.5 ride in the bareback event on Wise Guy from Classic Pro Rodeo. Will Lowe, who is leading the world title chase and was leading in NFR earnings turned in a 75-point ride on Goldy Lock from Bar T Rodeo.

In the steer wresting, Luke Branquinho of Los Alamos, Calif., and Gabe LeDoux of Kaplan, La., split first and second place with runs of 3.7 seconds. Branquinho was second in the world standings going into the night behind Dean Gorsuch of Gering, Neb., and Branquinho and Gorsuch were 1 and 2 in NFR earnings.

Garrett Tonozzi of Fruitia, Colo., and Brady Minor of Ellensburg, Wash., won the round in the team roping with a 4.1-second run.

In the saddle bronc event Cody Wright of Milford, Utah, won the night with an 89-point ride on the horse Fire Fly from Bar T Rodeo.

Get the latest official results from ESPN and the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association as soon as they are available through this link.

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Buddy, can you spare a jackpot?

LAS VEGAS -- So I've been in Las Vegas a grand total of about six hours-plus. And so far, I haven't spent all my allowance. So, I count that as good. Although I did miss virtually all of tonight's NFR broadcast. So, I have no clue who did what or how the races for the various championships are shaping up after tonight's 5th round.

The good news, is there are five more rounds to go, and I still have time to get caught up. Tomorrow night, I'll be inside the Thomas and Mack Center to watch the action live.

I decided to pop by my room and was delighted to see my suitcase arrived. However, when I unpacked, I realized that my new packing style didn't prevent my freshly-pressed Western shirts from getting wrinkled. There's nothing worse than ironing a shirt twice. I hate ironing even once.

OK, maybe there is something worse, $10 minimum bets for the table games at the casino where I'm staying.

If I were smart, I'd go to bed now. If I were slightly less smart, I would leave the casino where I'm staying and look for some cheaper table games.

I guess morning will tell just how smart I've been.

***

Oh, by the way, I posted a new podcast, and corrected a problem with Episode 4 of the Farmers' Capital Press Agriculture Podcast. So, if you feel like checking that out, you can find it here.

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It's beginning to look a lot like Vegas

PORTLAND -- The sign on the terminal entrance says Portland International Airport, but the signs of the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas are unmistakable.

A scan of travelers in the terminal reveals the uniform of the rodeo fans everywhere -- cowboy boots, cowboy hats and rodeo jackets.

A bus carrying farmers, ranchers and Eastern Oregon business folks should be pulling up to the terminal any moment. Those are my travel companions for the week. We are off to the NFR.

If I can get internet connectivity from my lodgings in Vegas, I'll post again from the desert (time and sobriety permitting).

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Agriculture, Travel, Rodeo, National Finals Rodeo