They chomp on grain, bob their massive heads and playfully nudge each other with their noses. Some hardly notice when a person walks by their pens; others stare with an anxious, are-you-bringing-me-food look.

Stroll behind the scenes at the National Western Stock Show — or any rodeo, for that matter — and there's no reason to think the bulls here are any different than the ones peering through the barb wire fence along the highway.

But get them into a crowded arena, locked into a chute, a cowboy strapped onto their back — and these once-docile animals turn into 1,500-pound whirling balls of fury, kicking and thrashing to get that rider off their back.

"You load a bull into the chute, he knows that he bucks when he leaves there," says Hank Franzen, who runs Powder River Rodeo, a Wright, Wyo.-based company that raises bulls for rodeos. "Back there, that's where we feed them, we give them water, we grain them. They're our friend because we're the ones that take care of them and feed them. But when they're in the chute, they know there's a guy who's going to get on them and try to ride them."

But how do the bulls get like this?

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NATURE OR NURTURE?

There was a time when electrical prods and tight flank straps were used to get bulls to buck, but that practice has been abandoned at most rodeos. Now it's all about the breeding.

Like thoroughbred horse breeders, rodeo stock contractors crossbreed bulls from strong lines with cows from proven buckers to get bulls that have the athleticism and attitude they need for rodeos.

The ones with the right mentality and ability are identified early, and the weaker ones are cut from the herd. Contractors typically start testing the bulls around one or two years old, putting dummies on their backs to see if they'll buck. Around three or four, they'll strap on a real cowboy to get a good idea of whether a bull's going to end up bucking in an arena or grazing in a pasture somewhere.

Sometimes contractors can teach bulls to buck, but the best ones have it in their blood.

"A good rodeo bull has got to have a heart," says David Bailey of David Bailey Rodeo Company. "You can't make him buck if he doesn't want to buck. Like a football player, if this kid doesn't have the desire you can't make him a good football player. What I've bred into these bulls that I've got is longevity — they'll buck for five or six years real good."

According to probullstats.com, there are about 300 stock contractors who provide bulls to rodeos around the country, with nearly 20 supplying the National Western Stock Show.

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ON THE ROAD

Contractors move bulls from rodeo to rodeo in haulers, and contractors try to limit their time on the trucks to under 12 hours to keep them from getting worn out. Typically, the bigger the bull, the easier he has it on the road.

"Some of the littler bulls can't stand the road," Bailey says. "It's like a football player, some of the littler guys can't take the pounding every day, so that's what you get into. You want one that's big enough to run on the truck, take care of himself among other bulls. We can't keep 30 bulls separate."

Bailey has over 100 bulls at his ranch in Fort Gibson, Okla., from yearlings all the way up to Lucky Strike, the 2005 National Finals Rodeo bull of the year. He figures about 75 percent of the bulls he breeds go on to rodeos, with a handful becoming the type that even the best riders can't stay on at the top events.

Bailey has about 50 rodeo-ready bulls that he splits between 40 or so rodeos a year — most with horns, humps on their backs and a bit of a nasty streak.

"I like a bull that will fight a little bit. He's got to have an attitude," Bailey says. "I don't want them too gentle because they're not supposed to be gentle. They're rodeo bulls, they're supposed to be mean and I've tried to stay with that aspect, tried to keep them mean, tried to keep them alert and aggressive."

Of course, it's not always easy handling animals that range from 1,200 pounds up to a half ton.

Like people, bulls all have different personalities, so the contractors have to be cognizant of which ones will let them approach and which ones will charge as soon as they walk into the pen. It helps to have some kind of stick or whip to keep them in line or quick reflexes to jump onto the side of the pen to avoid getting rammed.

The bulls also can be territorial and have buddies they like to hang around with, so contractors have to separate certain personalities to avoid fights, which could lead to broken ribs or legs.

"There's some that look docile, but you walk in there and they'll run you out of there," Franzen says. "Others will let you scratch them on the head."

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John Marshall is asap's sports writer, based in Denver.

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