The Board of Supervisors dropped the ball in 2019 when they had a chance to ban both "mutton busting" and "wild cow milking, two non-sanctioned rodeo events. The Board banned the former, but not the latter. Curious, since "wild cow milking" is far more problematic than "mutton busting," and had been our main focus from the very beginning. The proposed ban on both events had major support: Alameda County Veterinary Medical Association, the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association (with 1400 CA members), East Bay SPCA, CA State Humane Association, Ohlone Humane Society, Hayward Friends of Animals, Humane Farming Association, Action for Animals, In Defense of Animals, Animal Legal Defense Fund, et al. A petition posted by Animal Place garnered more than 180,000 signatures. This ain't rocket science, folks.
Keep in mind that these are still-lactating BEEF cows, not dairy. As such, they are unused to being handled at all, much less this roughly. One of these frantic cows, already stressed by being separated from her still-nursing calf, jumped the fence at the 2014 Rowell Ranch Rodeo. She landed on her head and suffered a broken neck and prolapsed eyeball. She had to be euthanized, leaving an orphaned calf. Another of these cows suffered a broken leg at the 2004 Livermore Rodeo, with a similar sad end. (NOTE: The Livermore Rodeo is within the city limits and will NOT be affected by the Board's decision. The Livermore City Council needs to hear from a concerned public.) STATE LEGISLATION IS IN ORDER. SEE THE MANY YOUTUBE VIDEOS IF IN DOUBT.
Worth noting that that cows are provided by local rancher RUSS FIELDS, who is also president of the Rowell Ranch Rodeo Committee. In a 2018 KGO-TV interview, Mr. Fields told reporter Dan Noyes that, "Nyaay, animals don't feel fear. They're an ANIMAL!" The mind boggles.
Rodeo has almost nothing to do with ranching. It's mostly hype, a macho exercise in DOMINATION. Some "traditions" need to end.

Clearly, some state-wide rodeo legislation is in order.
SOME POSSIBILITIES:
1. Ban "wild cow milking, "mutton busting," "goat tying," & all animal "scrambles";
2. Ban "tie-down calf roping," allowing "breakaway" roping only;
3. Ban the rodeo's use of flank straps. Note that the horses and bulls do not stop bucking when the rider is thrown or dismounts, but only after the flank strap/rope is released.
4. Ban the Mexican charreada's brutal "steer tailing" event, already outlawed in both Alameda and Contra Costa Counties (1993) , and by the State of Nebraska in 2008;
5. Amend CA state rodeo law, Penal Code 596.7 so as to require ON-SITE veterinary care at ALL rodeos and charreadas. The current "on-call vet" option is not working, and animals are suffering accordingly. Racetracks, horse shows & endurance rides all require vets on-site. Why not all rodeos and charreadas. (NOTE: The PRCA has required on-site vets only since 1996, after FIVE
animals were killed at the 1995 California Rodeo/Salinas.)
All legislators may be written c/o The State Capitol, Sacramento, CA 95814. Most decide in Oct/Nov upon which bills to carry in the coming session (January 2023).
EMAIL ADDRESS PATTERN FOR ALL: senator.lastname@senate.ca.gov
assemblymember.lastname@assembly.ca.gov
LET THEM HEAR FROM YOU!
x
Eric Mills, coordinator
ACTION FOR ANIMALS
Oakland - afa@mcn.org

The Alameda County Board of Supervisors at last banned “wild cow milking.” In this disgusting spectacle, a lactating beef cow is separated from her baby, chased into an arena, tackled by men and forcibly milked. Dominating a mother to take her milk – and calling it entertainment – just because she is of another species? When you actually think about it, this is sick and perverted.

Unfortunately, the Board elected not to ban spurs, ropes or bucking straps. The bucking strap is cinched tightly around the bull’s flank and penis, causing so much pain he’ll violently buck. Calf roping is worse: Flipping a 250-pound calf mid-run causes severe injury such as hemorrhage, broken blood vessels, damage to neck muscles, thyroid and trachea.

Exploiting animals for entertainment is so last century. Time to end this cruel “tradition.”.

A FEW CHOICE RODEO QUOTES:

“If ever there were a completely gratuitous abuse of animals, and often baby animals at that, all done for the sheer thrill and bravado of it, it is rodeo.” (--Matthew Scully, in his 2002 book DOMINION. Scully is a former speech writer for Pres. George W. Bush.)

"Do I think it hurts the calf? Sure I do. I'm not stupid." (--Keith Martin, chair of the board, PRCA. In the 2/6/2000 San Antonio Express News, "Choosing Champions," by reporter Elizabeth Allen)

"Yeah, I accidentally killed and injured lots of calves when I was learning. I mean, I plain roped their heads off." (--a PRCA calf roper, "The mud, the blood & the poop," by PRCA reporter Gavin Ehringer, Colorado Springs Independent, August 19, 2004)

“The single worst thing you can do to an animal emotionally is to make it feel afraid. Fear is so bad for animals I think it’s worse than pain.” (--Dr. Temple Grandin, world-renowned animal behaviorist)

“Do animals feel fear? Nyaah, they don’t feel fear. They’re an ANIMAL!" (--Russ Fields, Castro Valley, CA rancher and president of the Rowell Ranch Rodeo Committee, 5/19/18 KGO-TV segment)

“As a lawyer, the ‘wild cow milking contest’ reminds me of rape cases I have tried in state court. Appalling!” (--Dr. Peggy Larson, veterinarian & former rodeo bronc rider, in a 2015 letter to the Hayward Area Rec & Park District.

“Women should not rodeo any more than men can have babies. Women were put on earth to reproduce, and are close to animals. Women’s liberation is on an equal to gay liberation—they are both ridiculous.” (--a Wyoming steer wrestler in the book, “RODEO: An Anthropologist Looks at the Wild and the Tame,” by Elizabeth Atwood Lawrence, Univ. Tenn. Press, 1982)

“The eighteen-year-old rodeo queen and her princess told me that rodeo people, including themselves, ‘hated Democrats, environmentalists, and gays.’” (--from “Rodeo Queens and the American Dream,” by Joan Burbick, Public Affairs, NYC, 2002)