C+ Rodeos contractors Earl and Roy Call have spent much of their lives dedicated to rodeo.
Born in the Cariboo and raised by ranching parents who moved to the area in 1962 from Redding, California, the brothers were introduced to rodeos as young children.
Their dad Basil rode bucking horses and roped and their mom Carol barrel raced.
Earl said he tried every rodeo event, but was best at bull riding.
“I rode bulls for almost 30 years and won four or five B.C. titles,” he said.
In 1972, the family moved from the Spokin Lake Road area to a ranch near Dugan Lake on the Horsefly Road in 150 Mile House.
“Our parents used to run 300 to 400 heads of commercial Hereford cattle,” Roy said.
Growing up the boys played hockey.
“Karl Seibert was good friends with our mom and dad and said, ‘those boys need to play hockey,’ when we were about seven and eight. He said he would take us and put us on a team,” Earl recalled. “It was quite nice of him.”
As adults, they both coached hockey when their children played.
Roy continues to do some evaluations and mentoring for minor hockey and Earl plays in an oldtimers league.
About 30 years ago Earl and Roy started raising rodeo stock and when they ran out of room for commercial cows, the rodeo stock became the go-to for the ranch.
Today they and their mom Carol all live at the ranch the family moved to in 1972.
Raising rodeo stock requires patience, Roy said.
Bulls start bucking as two-year-olds and are usually done by the time they are eight-year-olds.
Horses are different and will start bucking when they are three, four or five years old, depending on their size.
They can buck until they are 25.
Earl enjoys watching the new animals come into the string.
“I love seeing them improve themselves,” he said. “It’s kind of a feather in your cap when you start out with a calf and it turns into a world-class bucking bull.”
The same goes with horses, he added.
“You start out and background them into different rodeos. It’s a real pleasure to see them do well on the circuit.”
On the ranch they have about 50 cows and about four or five of them always raise animals born to buck.
Once the bulls are ready to train, they will dummy buck them and then get some younger riders to ride them.
“Usually we put in about 25 young bulls into our herd every year and out of those 25 a guy gets about a dozen of them that are pretty decent,” Earl said.
Comparing the job to being a general manager of a hockey team where you’re always planning for next season, Roy said the difference is the athletes have four legs instead of two.
In the past, it was common for the Calls to bring stock to 40 rodeos a year, but they have slowed that down and this year will attend 27 events.
“We have a lot of bigger events that are a week at a time now,” Roy said. “You leave on a Monday and take the arena and the stock and get home on a Monday.”
Being home during the COVID pandemic was an eyeopener because it let them take a step back and see all the good things they have.
Roy said they hosted a few events at the ranch and it made them realize their lifestyle is pretty hard to beat.
“If you like this job, it is the greatest job ever,” he added.
Earl did enjoy the opportunity to get out fishing and doing some other things.
He has also worked at West Fraser for going on 38 years so between the mill, ranching and rodeo he works seven days a week.
Roy has a son Cody, 25, and daughter Brooke, 23.
Earl has two daughters, Isabelle, 24, and Paige, 22.
“Everybody loves to come home when they can and they have always loved going to the rodeos and helping out,” Earl said.
Many friends of all ages have helped them over the years as well.
“It’s like a small family,” Earl said. “Most of the people that are in the rodeo business we’ve known for a long time. It’s a lot of the same families keeping the rodeo circuit alive.”
The weekend of April 14 to 16, the Calls will be busy with the Indoor Spring Classic Rodeo being held at the Cariboo Memorial Complex in Williams Lake, which Roy is heading up with businessman Richard Kohlen.
Earl will be a pickup man, something he’s done for more than 20 years.
Looking back Roy said a lot of positive things have happened and they have had good breaks along the way, although most of the breaks have come from hard work.
“People love us or don’t love us, but the one thing you can’t say about us is that we don’t work,” Roy noted.
“We work incredibly hard. To do what we do for as long as we’ve done it takes stick-to-it-iveness and a real work ethic.”
READ MORE: Expect tradition, modern twists at Indoor Spring Classic Rodeo in Williams Lake
READ MORE: Animal athlete, cowboy pairings promise great show at 94th Williams Lake Stampede
monica.lamb-yorski@wltribune.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter