ProRodeo Sports News June 14th, 2019

RAM CIRCUIT SPOTLIGHT PRAIRIE

On the Prairie

Photo courtesy Nick Becker

Team roping header Nick Becker farms 3,500 acres of wheat, corn and milo alongside his dad near Garden City, Kan.

Kansas cowboys balance farming and circuit rodeos

ABOUT NICK & DAWSON Nick Becker CIRCUIT – Prairie EVENT – Team Roping Header HOMETOWN – Garden City, Kan. Dawson McMaster CIRCUIT – Prairie EVENT – Team Roping Heeler HOMETOWN – Madison, Kan. RECENT SUCCESSES – Co-champions at Abbyville (Kan.) Frontier Days, May 17-18; placed second at the Haysville (Kan.) Rodeo, May 4.

BY MATT NABER P roRodeo can put food on the table, but Prairie Circuit team roping partners Nick Becker and Dawson McMaster are in it for fun while putting food on everyone’s tables as farmers in Kansas. “Farming has allowed me to get to rodeo,” Becker said. “There are times I have to miss stuff because the farm takes precedence, but that’s what has let me go rodeo as much as I have.” An annual cycle of planting and harvesting makes scheduling rodeo trips easier, but nothing stops while they’re gone, and their availability can change as rapidly as the weather. “We understand it since we kind of do the same thing,” McMaster said. “We have obligations at home and we understand you have to stay home sometimes. “That’s what I do, go rodeo and come home and haul hay for a week or two, then I’ll get caught up and then I’ll leave and then I’ll get caught up.”

keep up with the pace, farming takes more ingenuity than simply plowing and planting – maximizing field yields is a science that’s constantly evolving. “It keeps getting bigger, and everything has to be done in a timelier manner, and the equipment and farms are getting bigger,” said Becker, 33. “They either get bigger or they go away and a bigger farm gets them. It’s getting to where we know how far apart each plant is as we plant it. It’s getting to where it’s a precision job.” While the science has changed, the traditions of family farming remain strong for the ropers. Becker works alongside his 63-year-old dad, Scott, and McMaster farms with his in-laws. “Dad is still the main decision-maker and I’m just the head worker,” Becker laughed. “He still does quite a bit of it, it’s what he likes to do. I just stay out of his way.” When he’s not in the arena, Becker can be found farming 3,500 acres of wheat, corn and milo near Garden City, Kan. With about 12,000 acres, McMaster and his family farm 2,500 acres and run about 700 head of cattle on the remaining space in eastern Kansas. “When I’m home I try to help on the ranch,” said McMaster, 30. “I’m fortunate my father-in-law lets me slip away to go rodeo, so it’s nice they let me go down the road

FEEDING THE WORLD

Earth’s population is growing at unprecedented rates with 7.7 billion mouths to feed, and that number is projected to grow to 9.8 billion over the next 30 years. To

ProRodeo Sports News 6/14/2019

ProRodeo.com

48