One of the biggest stock contractors in B.C. lies in the rolling hills of 150 Mile House. The thousand-acre ranch, owned and operated by the Call family since the 60s, takes pride in its livestock.
“It’s our brand with our family name on it,” said Cody Call, who works on the ranch with his family and is also a bullfighter. He described his family as a blue-collar family who loves the rodeo and “loves the sense of pride that it gives” them.
The three-generation farm began as a commercial beef cattle operation with around 400 Hereford cows. Carol and Basil Call’s sons, Roy and Earl, helped on the ranch and began riding bulls as they got older. Over time, the family’s focus shifted to the rodeo business.
The family is full of talent. Roy, a bull rider and bullfighter, fought bulls for the BCRA and NRA finals. Earl, also a bullfighter, has won several “All Round Cowboy” awards and has been the B.C. Bull Riding Champion four times. Their parents, Basil and Carol, were champion team ropers. Carol, a horse trainer, was also a champion barrel racer.
While Basil has since passed, the rest of the family lives on the ranch together. Matriarch Carol, Earl and Kat and their two daughters, Isabelle and Paige; and Roy and Judy and their son Cody and daughter Brooke.
As for the shift from commercial beef cattle operations to rodeo, there’s only so much room in the beef cattle business, said Roy, noting that those cows are domestic and different from rodeo cattle.
“If you have 1,000 acres, you can’t, you know, run 2,000 acres worth of [commercial] cattle … We had to make a choice, and we enjoyed the rodeo cattle,” said Roy.
Not only is providing stock for rodeos a business, but it also provides entertainment for the whole family.
“We’re a full-service kind of business. Literally like the circus,” said Roy, explaining that not only do they breed their cattle, but they also provide everything from the ground up, including transporting the animals, providing portable arenas, the cowboys, bullfighters and more.
The ranch breeds for specific traits, notably for the animals’ athleticism, and cares for them like pets.
“Where you have a cat or a dog, my cat or dog might be a 1,800-pound cow.”
The family feeds the animals 365 days a year, said Roy, but the horses and bulls may only work one or two dozen days a year.
“We take great care of them. We are maniacal about how we feed them, hold them, transport them.”
The horses, intelligent and social animals, enjoy staying in groups, especially while travelling; otherwise, they become stressed. It takes hours for the Call family to figure out how the horses will travel, when and with which other horses.
“You don’t want to split buddy groups up,” said Cody.
The bulls are more durable, less concerned with their social groups and can typically work more days than the horses. They also sleep less and are more restless. While the horses may be bucked only once a month, the bulls may be bucked twice a month.
The rest of the time, the animals enjoy the lush, grassy fields.
“They live a pretty good life,” Cody said.
While ranching is a 24/7, 52 weeks a-year industry, the family runs full blast during the summers, providing rodeos throughout B.C. and Alberta. It wasn’t until COVID-19 that the family could slow down a bit and reflect on what they do.
They began hosting some rodeos on their ranch, which Roy described as an “eye-opener,” where they were able to see their ranch through the eyes of others.
“When people came here over COVID … They see this Yellowstone-looking situation where you’ve got the beautiful place and these interesting characters around and we have this exciting lifestyle where we’re travelling and stuff, it was good for us. It let us step back and say, you know, we have it pretty good. We have a wonderful lifestyle. We’re blessed to have our family and stuff here.”
Roy and Earl’s mother, Carol, is now 75 and works daily on the ranch.
“She works harder than anybody on the ranch and she enjoys it,” said Roy, who went on to say how much he enjoys watching her work alongside his son.
“She used to boss Cody around and she loves that,” Roy laughed, “but it was kind of fun to watch those two generations how they interacted and you kind of smile a little bit and I think that’s how things should be.”
Rodeo events keep the family going and are crucial to the health of their business and the future of rodeo, said Cody.
“We need more cowboys. The world would be a better place if we had more cowboys.”
