A few days before a rodeo, Rhett Beutler rounds up the animals he
needs to take. They spend a few days in the dry lots with ample food
and water until they are loaded and transported to the rodeo. These
animals then spend several more days acclimating to the location of
the rodeo, again with all the food and water they could ever want.
Photo courtesy of Beutler and Sons Rodeo Company.
Two days before departing for a rodeo, Beutler sorts
out the animals he needs for the weekend and brings
them up to the corrals close to the house. “Many
people don’t realize how tedious the loading process
truly is,” Beutler said. “We use a head to tail system
when we load our animals. They go in a specific order
dependent on how each animal acts while being
loaded and during the trip. It is not a small task to
say the least.” There is plenty of speculation behind
packing trailers like sardines, but Beutler debunks this
myth. “Packing a trailer tight is just asking for an injury
to happen. We pack loose so the animals can step to
either side to keep their balance with the movement
of the truck,” Beutler added. “If we packed tight we
would have animals fall down and get trampled by the
rest. Then we would show up to the rodeo with lame
animals, and that is the last thing we want for them.”
As with anything, there will always be bad apples in
every industry casting a negative light on those who
do things right. “The PRCA cannot really regulate what
we do at home as far as taking care of our animals.
However, they can keep an animal from performing if
they are in poor condition,” Beutler finished.
Though the new Electronic Logging Device mandate
has not taken effect, Beutler is expecting it will in the
near future. “The government has not figured out all
the details yet because we are hauling animals, not
freight,” Beutler said. “We cannot just pull over and
rest for eight hours with animals on the truck when
it is 100 degrees outside.” Beutler and Sons always
travels with two drivers to expedite the travel time. All
contractors have their own ideas about best practices
for taking livestock to an event, some like to break the
trip up and rest. While others prefer to make trips in
one stretch to get the animals off the truck as soon
as possible. “When traveling, animals can get sick if
you feed and water them. We usually leave a few days
early for a rodeo, so the animals can get over the jet
lag of traveling and back to feeling good,” Beutler said.
“There are very few places to stop and unload animals
and even fewer with enough pens to keep everything
separated. Since we are based in Oklahoma, when it
Rodeo LIFE 21