Wellington crew garners second place in New Raymer Ranch Rodeo

The fact that some good summer rains had generated a plentiful supply of green grass was more than apparent during the 11th Annual Feeders and Friends event held at New Raymer in mid-August. The cowboys had their hands full during the ranch rodeo, trying to manipulate steers and cows in the arena that clearly were carrying several hundred more pounds of body weight than they have in recent drought-ridden years.

Twenty three teams of five cowboys and a few cowgirls took their turn in the arena trying to complete five events against the clock. They had to do team doctoring, team sorting, trailer loading, double mugging and wild cow milking. To say the least, the feisty cattle did as much as they could to not cooperate. A number of the teams got hung up on the double mugging event when the steers just wouldn’t go down without a fight—in a number of cases, this is when the clock ran out on them.

All of the activities during the day were part of a fundraiser to benefit Jaycie Love, an 8-year-old cowgirl from Loveland, who is courageously battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia. While organizers are still collecting donations, they estimate that the proceeds from the day, which included the rodeo, concessions, an auction and a dance, will exceed $30,000.

It was a team from nearby Grover, The Flying T Ranch, who captured first place in the ranch rodeo with a time of 3:51.99 in the arena. The team was made up of Steve Anderson, Kadyn Hicks, Steve Hicks, Mark Foreman and Shane Hilzer.

Second place team, hailing from Wellington, came to the event from Horton Feedlots and consisted of Brittney Macdonald, Jordan Mildenberger, Josh Love (Jaycie’s dad), Eric Schneider and William Huston. Their time was 4:19.

Third place team, traveling all the way form Colorado’s Western Slope was the Western Slope Cattleman’s Livestock Auction Team out of Loma. The team was made up of Bill Martin, Ty Tingy, Josh Nicklas, Lothan Snyder and Conway Farrel.

Other teams competing in the 2013 event included Miller Cattle Feeders (Pierce, CO), Guenzi Farms (Sterling, CO), Ehmke Ranch (Grover, CO), Spear T. Horses (Greeley/Kersey, CO), Mile High Ranch (Grover, CO), Schramm Feedlot (Yuma, CO), Livewire Livestock (Last Chance, CO), Elliott Land & Cattle (Greeley, CO), Rocking Anchor Ranch (Akron, CO), Dinklage Feedyard Proctor #1 (Proctor, CO), Wahlert Ranch (Grover, CO), BeefCo (Akron, CO); Konig Feedlot (Grover, CO), Rock Barn Land and Cattle (Idalia, CO), Stauffer Cattle CO (Harrisburg, NE), Dinklage Feedyard (Sidney, NE) and Overland Trail Ranch (Crook, CO).
The Feeders and Friends organization will continue to round up all the pledged donations and gifts to this year’s event and will do a formal presentation to the family in a month or so. The event is always held the third Saturday of the month in New Raymer.