Cattle sorting: a sport that’s true to ranching

This competition, sometimes referred to as “the most family-friendly rodeo event,” involves two riders working together to quickly sort a group of cattle and place them one at a time in a corral. Unlike some rodeo events like bullriding or bulldogging, which have almost no real basis in actual ranch work, cattle sorting is something that ranchers and cowboys do on a daily basis. Also known as “ranch sorting” or “team sorting,” the event typically involves two 50-foot by 50-foot pens with a 12-foot opening between them. Ten head of cattle (typically young steers or heifers) are placed in one pen and a team of two riders enters. The cattle wear collars marked with numbers from 0 to 9. An announcer calls out a random number, and the riders must then separate that animal from the others and place it into the adjacent corral first. The riders continue to place one animal at a time in the corral in sequence — 6, then 7, then 8, etc. — as quickly as they can. Teams are disqualified if two cattle enter at the same time or out of sequence. Variations involve adding one or two animals that aren’t numbered but serve as extras to add complexity, or teams of three riders instead of two...more