"A Big Part of PBR"

Junior Futurity Gets Youngsters

Involved In Raising Bulls

 

 

SULPHUR SPRINGS, Texas – Whitney Houston may have sung it best in “The Greatest Love of All”:

“I believe the children are our future; teach them well and let them lead the way.”

That philosophy has led the American Bucking Bull Inc. to develop the Junior Futurity program, which will have an event for 9- to 18-year-olds at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Hopkins County Regional Civic Center. Cowboy church will precede the futurity at the civic center, beginning at 8:30 a.m., and an awards event will follow.

“It’s for our younger breeders,” said Andee Lamoreaux, general manager of the Pueblo, Colo.-based ABBI. “It’s an opportunity to get the youth more involved. We ask that they be involved in all aspects of the care of the animal.”

Saturday morning’s event will feature about 20 2-year-old bulls raised by youngsters to take part in a bucking competition. Instead of cowboys, the animals will be mounted by 25-pound dummies. The bulls will be judged by how well they perform. The futurity is in collaboration with this weekend’s Texas Heritage National Bank PBR Challenge presented by Priefert Ranch Equipment, which kicks off at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the civic center.

 

 

 

 

 

“When the young people bring the bulls to the event, then they have to flank them also,” said Lamoreaux, noting the event is free and open to the public. “It takes quite a bit of practice and work at home to know how to do it right and do it safely so the animal can perform the best it can.

“We started out last year, and we had one of our stock contractors donate $30,000 to the youth futurity. The grand champion at each of the three events, including Sulphur Springs, will win $10,000. The reserve grand champion, or second place, will win $1,000 and a heifer calf that was donated by another stock contractor.”

The heifer is being donated by Superior Genetics, owned by Emory ranchers Jay Weddle and Donny Gowin, who co-produce the PBR Challenge with Jim McLain.

 

So why is this program important to the ABBI?

“These are our bull breeders of tomorrow, and we want to encourage them and get them involved,” Lamoreaux said. “Maybe the winners can use the money to start building their herd. What we’d like working toward is some sort of scholarship or CD, to develop a youth program with incentives for the kids to be involved.”

 

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