Skip to content

Ranch Rodeo keeps growing

The third annual Ranch Rodeo was another success, giving ranchers an opportunity to display their skills in a fun competition.

By Adam Eisenbarth

It wasn’t your typical rodeo at the Rimbey Agricultural Grounds on July 24.

The third annual Ranch Rodeo was another success, giving ranchers an opportunity to display their skills in a fun competition.

Several central Alberta ranches entered teams into the event and competitors battled it out in a variety of interesting events.

“(Events like this) are getting more popular all over the country. There’s lots of them going on,” says Ag Society president Stan Goetz, who participated with his Z Bar Ranch team from Bluffton.

The rodeo started with the calf sorting; 21 yearlings, numbered 0 through 6 were herded onto the infield. It was the job of each team to separate three calves with matching numbers out of the group and corral them into a pen.

Other events included team doctoring, trailer loading, team branding and a wild cow milk.

The event is still catching on, but Goetz was pleased with the turnout.

“It wasn’t an overly huge crowd but it was a little more than last year and a little more than the year before so every year there seems like there’s a few more coming.”

Competitors are clearly enjoying the activity with teams returning every year.

“Most of it’s just for fun,” Goetz said. “It’s more of a get-together for the local cowboys or local farmers that don’t have a chance to compete in the real rodeos.”

While the activity may be a fun way to enjoy a rodeo competition, it’s no easy task getting the calves to co-operate.

“Patience on something like a ranch rodeo is a very big plus,” says Goetz. The rodeo demands a number of other skills as well.

“Knowing how to handle a cow and roping is a big part of it. A lot of those guys are good with a rope and being handy with a rope is a beautiful thing.”

This year’s ranch rodeo involved 13 teams from throughout central Alberta, including Rimbey and Bluffton.