Cattle call: A look at the team roping finals

link Staff photo: Jacob Sanchez

Bryan Hughes herds cattle into a pen at the United States Team Roping Championship Southwest Regional Finals on Saturday. Hughes has worked with USTRC for one year.

Staff Writer

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The crack of a whip breaks through the humid air inside the Curry County Special Events Center as a man herds cattle to a pen.

The man, Bryan Hughes, is a cattle specialist with the United States Team Roping Championships. Along with his whip, Hughes’ shouts of, “Hey! Hey! Hey!” move the cattle forward.

He’s one of three tasked to take care of the 300 cattle the USTRC brought for its Southwest Regional Finals this weekend.

“We take as good of care of them as we can,” Hughes said atop Mouse, his 6-year-old quarter horse. “Put them back on food and water as often as we can.”

Hughes has worked with USTRC for a year.

Surrounding the steers’ horns are wraps that protect the from rope-related injuries, Hughes said. Twelve men herd the cattle into the pens and eventually the chute. They use an electric cattle prod to get the steers into the chute for the ropers.

When the steer leaves the chute, a header tries to rope the head, while the heeler finishes the job by getting the hind feet. Either one fails, and the team takes a no time.

Lori Hall of Rincon is a header. She says there are a lot of variables in the sport.

“The steers are all different,” she said. “You have to read it pretty quick as a header in order to know how fast to run and rope it.”

Hall is a part of the 1,000 contestants that competed at the regional finals. From the audience Hall studies the cattle to learn their behaviour.

She points to a black steer in the area. “See how that one ran a little harder than the last one.”

She was in luck Saturday because the steers had just been changed and she got one she knew well.

“They have three pens of steers outside,” Hall said. “They change the cattle so that we can’t learn ‘em. It’s a bit of luck of the draw.”

According to announcer Ben Clements, Hall and the other competitors could receive “lots of money and some great prizes” if they win. While he won’t know the total prize amount, Clements estimates that it will be hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Just like the ropers and their horses need training, so do the steers.

“You have to break them in,” Hall said. “You get them when they're brand new; they’re pretty wild. You train them to do their job.”

Once the steer does its job, Hall must take care while roping it so her partner can do his job. Her partner changes event to event.

“If you run out there too wild and take (the steer) too fast, the feet don’t hop together so your heeler can’t rope it,” Hall said. “The whole goal is to rope as a team.”