The LaHaye Bucking Bulls are ready to shake up the Allen County Fair once again this weekend at the Riverside Park Fairgrounds.
Grant LaHaye first got into rodeo when he was a little kid. His father rode bulls as far back as he could remember. LaHaye said he was always intrigued with bucking bulls but was mainly into horses when he was younger. He wondered how he would ever get into the game.
“We team-roped a little bit. Once when we went to look at a horse, the guy also had bucking bulls. So we ended up buying a couple of cows from him and starting raising them,” LaHaye said.
LaHaye is an Iola local and drives cattle stock trucks while running LaHaye Bucking Bulls on the side. The bulls he has raised have come from all over. He typically selects bulls for breeding purposes from southern Texas and Nebraska.
LaHaye’s parents also raise cattle. Grant has his own 15 acres where he has begun raising the bulls he uses for Bucking Bulls. The process of training and feeding the bulls can be a lot of work. The bulls usually begin appearing in rodeos when they are 3 years old.
“Caring for them is pretty important. Feeding them and keeping them looking good, and keeping them healthy is a full time job,” said LaHaye. “The more rodeos they go to the more accustomed they get to being handled to where they are not crazy their entire lives.”
Organizing the rodeo begins several weeks in advance. Once LaHaye knows how many riders will participate, he knows how many bulls to bring in. The bulls are towed in a big trailer from their farm to the arena.
The Bull Riders Incorporation (BRI) is the main governing body for bull riding rodeo events. The BRI rules say that a rider must remain seated on the bull for 8 seconds while gripping the bull with only one hand.
LaHaye also explained that the BRI makes it so all the bulls and riders are matched up randomly. LaHaye pulls slips of paper from a hat in selecting the pairings. Each night of the rodeo the winner-take-all earnings also increase as the feistiness of the bulls increases.
Because the rodeo is a sanctioned event, “it helps get a lot of riders,” LaHaye said. “In January, they have a big two-day finals for those who qualify.”
The LaHaye Bucking Bulls will be at the fairgrounds on Friday and Saturday night beginning with mutton busting at 7 o’clock.
