Cowboys sort herd of calves

Cow herding teams from all across the Northwest gathered at the Hole in the Wall Ranch near Fish Creek this weekend to participate in their annual Father’s Day Team Herding Competition.

More than 60 competitors brought their horses out Saturday and Sunday for the sixth year of the two-person event. Some Competitors came from as far away as Idaho and Washington to take part in the event.

Jason Cataldo, one of the organizers, said that the event has been expanding ever since it started and they probably couldn’t handle many more people at the ranch because of space limitations.

Team herding competitors work in teams of two, herding numbered groups of 11 fall calves. All but one of the calves, called the “dirty,” is numbered. Competitors have to herd the calves from one stall to another starting at a random number called out by the announcer. They have 60 seconds to herd as many as they can, and if the dirty or an out of order calf gets into the pen, they are disqualified.

Cataldo said that there were around 90 calves that took part in the event and they cycled the calves out every seven rounds to keep them fresh.

There are three rounds for each category of competitor, and Cataldo said that they usually try to eliminate half of the competition each round until the third round when winners are chosen. Cataldo said that they give a place for every ten riders in an event.

The winners compete for cash prizes taken from the entry fees. Cataldo did not have an exact total for this year’s prizes, but said that last year they paid out more than $7,000 to the winning riders.

As an added surprise, this year the event organizers made Saturday “Hawaiian Saturday” and anyone who wore a Hawaiian shirt was entered into a drawing for door prizes.

“This year we just thought we’d change it up,” said Cataldo, while pointing at his flamboyant yellow shirt.

Riders could compete in either #3 Class, #5 Class, #7 Class or Open Class. Cataldo said that Open Class is the most competitive and has the highest entry fee.

The other classes are based on ratings given to riders based on their skills. Cataldo said that the two riders on a team could not have an average score higher than the class they were competing in. He added that depending on where a person got their rating they could be slightly better or worse than their rating might convey, so having better riders compete with lesser riders evens out the playing field.

On Saturday, the winners in the Open Class were Cress Mummert and Brad Schoepf with first, Jarrett Raggl and Peggy Miller with second and Patti Waldoch and Brad Schoepf with third. In the #3 Class Sherri Ohs and Terry Gould took first, Sherri Ohs and Tyler Sell took second, Patti Reiter and MaryAnn Jones took third, Kristen Taylor and Jarrett Raggl took fourth and Linda Habeck and Peggy Miller took fifth. In the #5 Class Aaron Clark and Jackie Clark took first, Kyle Kisse and Roy Rasmussen took second, Jarrett Raggl and Sherri Ohs took third, Kim Gould and Gina Rasmussen took fourth, Denise Belt and Sara Miller took fifth and Sherri Ohs and Kathy Sutton took sixth. In the #7 Class Franchelle Winewski and Missy Miller took first, Brad Schoeph and Missy Miller took second, Cress Mummert and Roy Rasmussen took third, Sherri Ohs and Merle Browning took fourth and Sherri Ohs and Kyle Kisse took fifth.

On Sunday in the Open Class Kipp Belt and Gary Habeck took first, Gary Habeck and Roy Rasmussen took second, and Patti Waldoch and Brad Schoepf took third. In the #3 Class Sherri Ohs and Louie Raggl took first, Gina Rasmussen and Tyler Moulding took second, Peggy Miller and Amanda Steward took third, MaryAnn Jones and Patti Reiter took fourth and Missy Miller and Colter Miller took fifth. In the #5 Class, Roy Rasmussen and Terry Gould took first, Kristen Taylor and Sara Miller took second, Kim Gould and Jarrett Raggl took third, Denise Belt and Kriss Frank took fourth and Kyle Kisse and Sherri Ohs took fifth.