KLTV 7 News Tyler, Longview, Jacksonville |Home of the 'Bull of the Year'

Home of the 'Bull of the Year'

By Bob Hallmark - bio | email
Posted by Ellen Krafve - bio | email

GLADEWATER, TX (KLTV) - East Texas can officially be called home of the "bull of the year."

An East Texas breeder has won the prestigious award of Bucking Bull of the Year from the Professional Bull-Riders Association.

The ton of angry pot-roast is code blue, the PBR bucking bull of the year, and he was bred outside of Gladewater at Jones Farms.

"It's really great it don't happen to very many people," said Alvin Jones, with Jones Rodeo Genetics.

For the entire year, at dozens of North American rodeos, no cowboy has been able to stay on "Code Blue."

And, the PBR honor made tough cowboys very humble.

"I've been fooling with bucking bulls almost all my life," said Phil Higginbotham, the head wrangler. "It ain't no words."

It is not like raising dairy cattle, it is 2000 pounds of bone and muscle, 2000 pounds of walking nasty, and what they do is get the best out of them for the PBR.

It's all about blood-lines and genetics. It's already in them. Breeders just have to bring it out, and get that eight seconds of fury.

"Genetics go a long way in it," said Higginbotham. "They look for some turn-back bulls and something with a lot of kick in it and a lot of speed an vinegar."

That vinegar is an inbred nasty mean streak that rodeos are looking for.

"It's bred into them, you've just got to buck them enough to bring it out of them," said Higginbotham.

"They have a disposition of their own," said Jones.

They're not out to get you, but you go to working them and they start playing rodeo.

Jones is already working on the next generation of champions. A champion like "Code Blue" can sell in excess of $200,000. Jones actually had two bulls bred from his farm that were nominated for the award.

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