Ranching is hard. It’s a seven-days-a-week job with low return and high effort. It can be mentally and physically draining and at the same time, it can be more fulfilling than any other livelihood.
Rodeo is tough. It’s tough at any level but especially if you rodeo hard enough to qualify for the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) — not just once but multiple times. It can be mentally and physically draining and at the same time, it can be more fulfilling than any other livelihood.
What about those special few who hit the rodeo trail hard yet work to keep the home fires burning? Let’s hear from two.
Trevor Knowles says he never set out to be a professional rodeo cowboy. An interesting comment coming from one of the top steer wrestlers in the country. Now retired, Knowles was a 13-time qualifier for the NFR during his 19-year career while ranching with his father and brother.
“I always rodeoed a little bit but wasn’t serious about it,” he says of his youth. Instead, he focused on wrestling and planned to continue the sport in college. Then came his redshirt year. “I didn’t want to just sit around,” he says, so he focused on bulldogging for something to do.
“That’s all I did for that year and really practiced at it and got pretty good. And then I thought, ‘Man, this rodeo thing ain’t bad.’ I thought I could give ’er a try for a couple of years. Then I made the NFR in ’04 and never looked back.”
Retired steer wrestler Trevor Knowles qualified 13 times for the NFR during his 19-year career, which took off in 2004.
“I thought, ‘Man, this rodeo thing ain’t bad.’ I thought I could give ’er a try for a couple of years. Then I made the NFR in ’04 and never looked back.” – Trevor Knowles
That’s not to say, however, that he doesn’t have a family history in rodeo. His uncle, Butch Knowles, was a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) team roper and now a long-time NFR announcer.
Then there’s Cole Elshere, whose life has been centered around rodeo since he was 13 years old. The Faith, South Dakota, saddle bronc rider comes from a rodeo and ranching family. Three cousins are also PRCA card-carrying cowboys.
Four-time NFR qualifier Cole Elshere started in saddle broncs when he was 13 years old.
“My cousins rode saddle broncs and I grew up in 4-H and 4-H rodeos,” Elshere says. “I got on my first one when I was 13 and I’m still at it.” He’s a four-time NFR qualifier. This year, however, a broken leg kept him out of the saddle during the height of rodeo season.
“I got on my first one when I was 13 and I’m still at it.” – Cole Elshere
And he’s still “at it” on the family ranch. Along with his mother, Donella; father, Andy; and two hired hands, they run 200 head of registered Hereford cows and 700 head of commercial black cows bred to Hereford bulls. Their annual bull sale will be December 19 at the Faith sale barn.
The Elshere family markets calves and host their annual bull sale at the local sale barn in Faith, South Dakota.
Beyond his PRCA travels and ranch work, he also competes in the Indian Rodeo Cowboys Association circuit, hosts a rough stock Bible camp every summer for youths and helps with a family-run branded beef company, Elshere Ranch Beef.
The ties that bond
The stories of how the two cowboys blended rodeo and ranching are similar, and they hinge on having family heavily involved at home.
Knowles, who calls Van, Oregon, home grew up on his grandparent’s small ranch. He leased the ranch in 2007 and, with his father and brother working on the home place, began buying and leasing land to make the operation bigger and more sustainable.
Cole Elshere pictured with his daughter, Everly, balances managing the home ranch with a 100-plus rodeo circuit each year. He credits his wife, Kyndra, and his family for their support so he can pursue his two passions.
“A lot of my rodeoing was because of ranching,” he says. “I knew I couldn’t afford to work 9-to-5 and put one together. And I knew if I got good enough, I could make enough money to put something bigger together. I told them I’ll fund it, you manage it, and we’ll get through it.”
So that’s what he did. He provided the funds and came home when he could, and his dad and brother managed the ranch. “When I first started putting cows together, (my brother and I) partnered on everything and he did everything, him and my dad.” When his dad passed away, Knowles and his brother continued the arrangement.
As the ranch grew, Knowles changed his rodeo routine. “If I was gone for a week, I tried to be home for a week.” That way he could see his brother for a few days, giving him time to go hunting, fishing or something else away from the grind of running a ranch.
Then he lost his brother in a car crash. “My rodeo career ended that day. I’ve been home ever since. My dad and my brother, they’re the reason I have anything.”
“My rodeo career ended that day. I’ve been home ever since. My dad and my brother, they’re the reason I have anything.” – Trevor Knowles
Elshere says his father, mother and the hired men are what allows him to hit around 100 rodeos a year. “I have to choose the months I rodeo hard and other months I stay home,” he says.
On his grandparent’s ranch in Van, Oregon, Trevor Knowles carries on the tradition of ranching he worked hard to build with his late father and late brother.
Calving time, for example. “I just choose not to enter any rodeos during that time. I stay home and help get everything calved out. Then once we get everything to summer pasture and branded up, then I’m able to be freed up and hit as many rodeos and do as much catching up as I can,” he says. “And if I have a few days off, I come home to the ranch.”
The arrangement is working for the young bronc rider. He’s able to enjoy both his passions through good times and bad, through low markets and broken legs. Now that his leg is healing and the cattle market is looking much better, things are on the upswing.
“We like to sell our calves through the sale barn in Faith,” he says. “That way, when (buyers and other ranchers) come to town, everybody gets a chance to view them. And if they like what they see, they can come to our bull sale and buy the same Hereford bulls that produce those calves.”
Rodeo has its roots in ranching, and on Trevor Knowles’ place, ranching has its roots in rodeo. But both Knowles and Elshere will tell you that regardless of whether you choose one or the other or both, it takes drive, determination and a heapin’ helpin’ of hard work to make it successful.
Trevor Knowles shares a smile with his daughter, Chaney.