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AdvertisementFormer New Mexico bull rider now breeding top bucking bullsHOBBS, N.M. (AP)--Kevin Wallace knows what it takes to breed a champion bull. He spent six years riding some of the toughest in the industry. The 39-year-old Hobbs man spent the past 16 years breeding bucking bulls for bull riding associations around the country and soon he will break into the ranks of the most elite when his bull, "Ronnie,'' bucks for a chance to enter the Professional Bull Riders World Championship in Las Vegas. "It is starting to pay off,'' Wallace said of his years of bull breeding. "We are starting to get bulls that can compete at PBR and CBR levels.'' Wallace began riding bulls as a youth in Hobbs with dreams of becoming a world class bull rider. Alas the dream was not meant to be. "I got hurt pretty bad,'' Wallace said. "I never excelled in it like I thought I would. Everyone thinks they are going to set the world of fire. If I hadn't got hurt like I did I could have kept going, but you get married and get kids and things change.'' Wallace was injured in a ride, suffering broken ribs and got a leg stepped on by a one-ton bull. The injury laid him up and got him pointed in a new direction. "My dad had bought me a bunch of practice bulls and when I got hurt I started using those bulls for breeding,'' he said. "I do bull breeding a lot better than I do bull riding.'' It has been a long road for Wallace, a county employee who breeds and sends bulls to rodeos on the side. He has spent years trying to breed a world class bull and, when he did, even then he faced a challenge. "I named him Ronnie, after Ronnie Roach. He basically started the bucking bull breeding industry,'' Wallace said. "People used to laugh that I named him Ronnie. Most people want to name them stuff like "Undertaker'' or "Gravedigger,'' but then they started seeing him buck and now everyone wants to ride him.'' Bulls are rated by a panel of four judges with each judge scoring the animal from 1 to 25 based on the quality of ride they give the cowboy. Bulls that score consistently in the 90s are world class and Ronnie has been scoring over 90. World champion bull rider Tuff Hedeman was so impressed with Ronnie that he invited Wallace to bring the bull to the Super Bull in Del Rio, Texas, last year. Wallace has bred a few other bulls that went on to get contracts on PBR trucks, but Ronnie is the best so far. Ronnie will buck in the Wild Card competition where cowboys from around the globe who failed to make the world championship on season points will compete for one spot in the world finals. If Ronnie does well at the Wild Card he could earn Wallace $50,000 and a place among the bulls in the world finals. The top bull in the world brings the owner $350,000 and, generally, offers from PBR contractors to buy him. The money sounds impressive, but considering that Ronnie made Wallace about $36,000 last year and most of that was returned to food, transportation and care of the bull, raising bulls isn't lucrative. "You don't (make money),'' Wallace said. "There are a few guys out there that make money, but it costs a lot to feed them and a lot to transport them. It is just like anyone that ropes on the weekends, everyone has their hobby. You don't do it for the money. You do it because you love it. When we do make money, that is just the cherry on top.'' Wallace's wife, Jodie, said she is proud of her husband and thankful for the family bonding his hobby has given them. "It has made all of us really close,'' she said. "You get in the truck and travel for long periods of time. All of the events are very family oriented. It takes a lot of money to go play like we play, but it is very much worth it.'' Advertisement
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