Rodeo Stock

There are two major South Dakota companies/ranches that provide rodeo stock to some of the state's rodeos: Sutton and Korkow. They also provide rodeo stock to rodeos in the midwest and sometimes an animal reaches the PBR or PRCA finals. Korkow trucked the animals from Sully County to the Sioux Empire Fair.

In the pens or corrals, the animals appear as docile creatures. It is a different story when the saddle, straps, ropes or cowboys are in place. I took these photos between the two rodeo sessions.

moving the steer wrestling or maybe tie-down calves 

from one pen to another prior to the start of the rodeo

the team roping stock wasn't as cooperative

during their relocation

stock for the bareback and saddle bronc events

different stock for the afternoon and evening sessions

as the event ended, the stock was moved into the double-decker

cattle trailers/semi trucks

the ears and horns indicate some Brahma blood

some of the ranch hands' kids spent the rodeo down-time

riding the calves

including the girls

but they all had assigned working jobs once the rodeo

was up and running...removing straps, ropes, and equipment

before the animals returned to the corrals

it was as much fun watching them work

as it was watching the cowboys 

When this post goes live, we will be on an adventure to the northeast area of the US. Not certain if there will be blog posts while we are traveling. The trip starts as a tourist adventure and then moves to a geocaching experience.