Livestock
OverviewBuilding a
Legacy
Livestock Beginnings
In 1989, when an opportunity presented itself, the Gilberts purchased their first superstar bull, Ricky #183. Decades later, the couple has raised dozens of bulls—such as White Magic, Mailman (a tribute to Karl Malone), Wanna Dance, T-Bug, Mr. USA—as well as bucking horses like Marla’s Rose, Lil’ Brown Jug, Kling’s Klassic, Dun Gone—that have become rodeo royalty. Their careful study, hard work, and ultimate love for the animals has brought them more happiness than they ever imagined.
Roaming the Land
Placed against the majestic desert backdrop of Zion National Park and Pine Valley in Southern Utah, Diamond G bulls and horses run free, climbing, rooting, feeding on one side of the mountain and roaming to the other for water—a separation intentional by their breeders—and sometimes roaming near ledges that require dogs to bring them home. Other than the retired animals, the design is for them to be able to roam, and the Gilberts don’t necessarily want it to be easy. This rugged terrain is prime land for shaping the animals’ feet and legs. Horses have big stretches of land too, including mountains to run and create strength. The Gilberts believe it’s not only the best ground for the livestock physically, but mentally as well.
Breeding and Bucking
A little-known fact about bull riding is that you can’t make livestock buck. “Bucking” is a genetic trait that livestock breeders strive to achieve—some pedigrees are prone (though some just buck despite the genetics). Studying pedigree records and verifying offspring is a skill Cyndi is continually honing to improve their program. Tracking these lines, she’s discovered characteristics that matter in both the mother (dam) and the father (sire)—she believes the cow (dam) is more important than the bull (sire). Our experience shows some dams, no matter the sire bred to, produce offspring that buck.
Naming the Livestock
From Mr. USA to White Magic, any spectator to Diamond G livestock will quickly recognize the standout names and wonder about their origin. Cyndi explains that this is usually based on heredity, or the person who named them.
Bucking Bulls
T-BUG
T-bug was named by the then 5 year old daughter of Steve’s administrative assistant, Andrea at Gilbert Development. Once the name took hold, I try to follow the genetic link with the names, so ‘T’ or ‘Bug’ show up in a lot of the names like ‘Turbo T’ or ‘Elk Bug’. When there is a sponsor such as CR&S, we get names like “Crush Boss” or “Crusher Time,” etc.
“Steve’s bull” and Diamond G’s first superstar, Ricky is the cornerstone for dozens of Diamond G’s best-bred animals. For example, Ricky is both the grandfather (sire) and great grandfather (dam) of White Magic. When Norman Curry rode Ricky in the 10th Go of the 1990 WNFR for 94 points, Ricky had gone 309 trips unridden—over 10 world champions and a whole slew of cowboys (i.e. Jim Sharp, Clint Branger, Michael Gaffney, Darryl Mills, Cody Custer, Gilbert Carillo, Adam Carillo, Scott Mendes, Tuff Hedeman, Terry Don West, and others) were never able to conquer him. Ricky traveled from coast to coast and sometimes had several outs per day. His heart never weakened—he actively bucked in the PRCA until he was 15 years old. When he retired he had been ridden a total of 7 times in almost 400 outs. On the day that he died, March 23, 2000, 4 Ricky calves were born. Although initially thought to be sterile, over 100 offspring were born during his lifetime.
Ricky #183
Mr. USA
Mr. USA has only a face a mother would love and a winning style cowboys and fans alike find electric and financially rewarding! Perhaps the most famous of the Diamond G-bred livestock with nationwide wins, Mr. USA has made more than one cowboy a happy man. This bull is best known for his world champion record-breaking 96-point win with Cody Hancock at the 2001 NFR, as well as his 94-point ride with Blue Stone, and USST Cup Finale performance in Las Vegas. In 2002, Mr. USA competed at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics—dazzling spectators worldwide and bringing home a gold medal, once again with Blue Stone and 96 points!
Mr. USA is still #1 Today!
White Magic
A double-bred bull from Ricky grandfather (sire) and great grandfather (dam), White Magic was the bull that opened the door to the PBR for the Gilberts and is still alive today. The mascot of Diamond “G” Ranch, his personality and legacy are stark reminders of Diamond G.
Bulls Breeding
Bull breeding continues to be a main facet of the Diamond G lifestyle. Bucking bulls can begin proving themselves as young as two years old, which is much more convenient than the several year wait with horses.
Although the couple originally planned on being “backyard breeders”, they’ve expanded into a full-fledged breeding enterprise. Thanks to hard work, detailed DNA pedigrees, and knowing the animals on an intimate basis, the couple has found success in the breeding business.
Monitoring livestock’s bucking habits isn’t the only requirement, as Cyndi will attest. But most of the successful buckers can be traced back to Ricky, the couple’s first superstar bull or Orange Crush sired out of the bloodlines of Harry Vold’s fighting bull, Crooked Nose, who has been inducted into the PRCA Hall of Fame.
Cyndi enjoys the “chess game” of breeding.
Sometimes, it’s just luck of the Irish. A couple of times we’ve bred absolutely amazing “money bulls” and we “got nothing.” Just because the sire bucks, doesn’t guarantee his offspring is to going to buck.
My experience shows that the Whirly Gig and Mr. USA bloodlines breed well together. So you find those connections and you try to keep that genetic predisposition.
“When you have good cows, it doesn’t matter.” Steve grew up at Mt. Charleston raising wild cattle, so he has an eye for “the right cow.” “I’ve had to work and watch to acquire my skills in breeding. Of course, looking for a good black angus cow is an entirely different thing than looking for a good bucking bull or cow. Sometimes the ugliest cow or the most motley looking can be the best animal you’ve got, so it’s not always looks. For example the crooked nose from Ricky — which occasionally comes back through the genetic traits. Since I’m not on the front lines, I’ve got a guy working for me that can tell you 3 generations back. He’s got a photographic memory for what goes well together, and I really appreciate that. [You can’t favor] their looks rather than their genetic structure.”
“Between Steve’s “gut feel” of the animal and our detailed records on how they buck or what the genealogy presents, it’s usually a pretty stable breeding result. We do argue about that more than most things. Most people argue about money. I argue about getting rid of a cow. We maintain approximately 100 cows and clones.”
Cyndi recounts the story of Mr. USA and breeding lessons learned.
Let me tell you the story of how Mr. USA was born. We noticed that when we would put these great bulls with cows, the first-time heifers had a greater probabliity of dying during the birthing process because they’d never given birth before. Steve had an idea of putting a long-horn bull with first-time heifers. We happened to have a longhorn, Painted Desert, in our bucking string. Based on that gut feeling, Mr. USA was born. Now first-time heifers are always bred to long horns.
The day that Mr. USA broke the NFR record, score of 96/100 — Cody Hancock in 2001, it was electric.
Buckin Horses
Breeding bucking horses is another aspect of Diamond G Life, though for the past few years, time and capital have primarily been devoted to the breeding of bulls. The Gilberts learned that it takes years of care and thousands of dollars invested to find solid or superstar horses.
Turning to Northern breeders to provide most of their saddle-bronc and bareback horses, the couple soon learned that the livestock needed to be gentled in ordered to be workable. Dummies are often used for the first several rounds of riding to see how a horse bucks and winning their trust is a prime goal for the first little while.
The rugged terrain of the Diamond G ranch is perfect training grounds for the livestock to gain shape and muscle.
Horse Awards
Three 90-point rides in one night at the Cedar City PRCA Rodeo
Registering a 90-point score in saddle bronc riding is not totally uncommon, but to have three in the same performance is quite unsual.
That’s what happened June 13, 2014 at the Cedar City (Utah) PRCA Championship Rodeo when event winner CoBurn Bradshaw had a 91-point ride on Marla’s Rose, while Jake Wright scored 90 points on Dunn Gone k.k.a. Lukas’ Gone Wild and his brother and two-time world champion Cody Wright had a 90-point ride on Black Knight. Bradshaw is a brother-in-law to Jake and Cody Wright.
“Having three 90-point rides in one performance is a big deal,” said Steve Gilbert.