South Dakota ranch rodeo raises disaster relief funds

When it comes to their senior year of high school, teenagers have a lot on their plates. From senior photos to scholarship applications to college visits, they certainly have their hands full. Clayton Gustad, like the other seniors at Platte-Geddes High School in Platte, South Dakota had another unique challenge to tackle. Their curriculum requires each senior to plan, execute, and complete a “senior project” before they graduate. Some students plan football camps while others organize community cleanups. Gustad chose a different path- putting on a rodeo. As any rodeo committee member will admit, this is no easy task, but Gustad was determined that his senior project would align with his interests and benefit his community. He was going to put on a ranch rodeo fundraiser for farm and ranch natural disaster relief.

Gustad shared that he’s always had an interest in agriculture and the Western lifestyle. “I always ran around with my grandpa when I was younger,” he said. “He had a little operation by Snake Creek, west of Platte. He quit farming and ranching a little before I was born. I never really got what all the kids who were born into it got, but I always kinda craved it.” Gustad would follow his grandfather along to spring brandings and began competing in high school rodeo as soon as he became a freshman. While he previously rode bulls, Gustad now team ropes in the NHSRA and competes in 4-H rodeos in the summer. With such a clear passion, settling on a senior project idea wasn’t difficult for him. “I decided to stick with the cowboy side of things when it came to my senior project.”

The seniors were requiredfgftfrgfrtrd to choose their project by the end of their junior year and find a mentor to help them along the way. While the rodeo was an easy decision, finding a mentor required some thought. Eventually, Gustad settled on Ross Varilek. Varilek, a team roper who helps put on the Geddes Rodeo, was happy to help out. The pair were then on their own to figure out their next steps, the first of which was finding teams willing to compete in a ranch rodeo fundraiser. Each team had to have at least one woman and be willing to compete in a variety of events. Gustad managed to organize seven four-person teams, most from the area. He charged a fee of $100 per person, so each team contributed $400 to the fundraiser.

The next step, finding livestock for the rodeo, proved challenging at first. Gustad contacted several different people with limited success. Eventually, he got in touch with Chad Kreeger, a rancher from Wagner. Kreeger agreed to be Gustad’s stock contractor and went above and beyond Gustad’s expectations. “He’s a really good guy. He actually donated the steers.” Not only was he generous enough to provide the stock free of charge, Kreeger also volunteered to help with the rodeo as a flagger. “He was extremely handy to have around,” said Gustad. But one issue still persisted- Gustad couldn’t find cows for the wild cow milking event. Most ranchers he called weren’t thrilled about the idea of their cows coming into town for the event. Fortunately, rancher Keith Talsma had a different view. He was happy to provide a few cows for the event, although he and Gustad couldn’t settle on a price for them. They agreed to decide on a price after the rodeo, but Talsma had a surprise in store. “He ended up donating them too, which was very much appreciated,” said Gustad. “All my stock was donated free of charge, and everyone was very generous about that.”

With the teams and livestock all lined up, it was time to begin raising money. Gustad visited local businesses and posted flyers around the area, garnering support and awareness for his cause. “Mainly I just kinda went around town and talked to people, told them what was going on,” he said. After many hours chatting on the phone and in person, Gustad was able to get the rodeo entirely funded by sponsors. One business, Towro Trailer Sales, even donated a stock trailer to be used for one of the events. Community members were more than willing to pitch in for the noble cause, and anticipation grew for the rodeo.

Gustad even entered a ranch rodeo to gain a better understanding of how to run one himself. Gustad said that the rodeo, held in Dallas, South Dakota, was a lot of fun and gave him an idea of how he wanted his to look. “It gave me tips on what I would like to do and what I would do differently,” he shared. Then, he had to settle on which events he wanted to host at his fundraiser and decide which rules would govern them. “I found a ranch rodeo rule book online and tweaked it and changed it to fit our rodeo a little better. I tried to make it the best I could with what I had.”

Eventually, he settled on four events: team sorting, team branding, trailer loading, and wild cow milking. Most were run according to traditional ranch rodeo rules. In team sorting, the team is required to sort four cattle out of a group of 12. The catch? The cattle are all numbered, and they must be sorted in the order provided by the announcer. Team branding is a mockup of pasture roping and branding. Two teammates must head and heel the steer. Once the steer is stretched out, one person “brands” the animal with an iron coated in paint. Trailer loading (a personal favorite of Gustad) requires four team members who can be on foot or horseback. The team must load a steer into the donated trailer by setting up panels into a loading chute or by roping and dragging the steer on. Once the trailer is loaded, all four team members have to load themselves into a single-cab pickup. “It was pretty funny seeing all the guys cram in,” said Gustad. Last was the wild cow milking, which Gustad tweaked some of the rules for. While most ranch rodeos require that the cow can only have a head loop, Gustad permitted a head and a heel loop since there were some younger competitors he wanted to ensure the safety of. With two people on horseback roping the cow, the two members on the ground are given a bottle and milk the cow into it. “I thought they all went relatively well,” Gustad said, reflecting on the final performance. Then came the rewarding part- handing out buckles. The buckles, ordered from Corriente Buckle Company, were covered by the sponsorships.

Along with the rodeo, Gustad hosted a baked potato meal for attendees. Gustad said that this was really special because his parents, family, and friends helped out to put on the free-will donation meal to try to raise even more money for his cause. “I seriously appreciate everything my family and my family friends did for me because that meal was a lot of work,” he shared. When all was said and done, Gustad raised around $3,000 for farm and ranch disaster relief programs. “I think it ended up pretty good, and I left it open on the program that we had with my number and a message to allow people to continue donating.” Although Gustad knew he wanted his funds to support agricultural disaster relief, he debated where exactly the money should go. He was weighing different charities when a tornado tore through North Star, just 30 minutes from Platte. It was then Gustad knew his decision had been made. The money from his fundraiser would go directly to the ranchers in his community who had been impacted by the storm. “I know people like to donate for stuff like this if they can see the benefit it brings, so we looked into it and found a ranch that would take the donation.” Bill and Bennet Haines of Haines Farms fared badly in the aftermath of the storm. “The tornado ripped through their place, really just put them in the pit,” said Gustad. “I reached out to them and they were very, very appreciative.” Gustad was happy to see the funds going to such a good (and local) cause. “If you give it to an organization, you know it’s gonna go to a good place and where it’s needed, but it was cool to see the outcome.”

Overall, Gustad was satisfied with the outcome of his senior project. “I’m very, very impressed with how everything went,” he shared, adding that there were a few things he might do differently next time around. “We had a good turnout, but maybe advertise a little more and get more teams,” he said in response to being asked what those changes would be. “We kinda kept it small since it was my first time doing something this big and didn’t want it to get to more than I could handle. I’ve actually had a lot of people ask if I would do it again.” In the meantime, though, Gustad has plenty to keep him busy. First and foremost is writing a paper about his experience. He plans to write about how farm and ranch disaster relief benefits the community and keeps people fed. Along with his schoolwork and rodeo competitions, Gustad stays busy doing farrier work for his friends and making plans for after graduation. “I plan to go to college in Mitchell for animal science to get a degree in something I enjoy,” he shared. Gustad hopes that this will give him a good starting point to work on a ranch somewhere, or come home and buy yearlings to start his own operation.

While his community benefited from the rodeo, Gustad learned a lot himself. “It was really interesting to see how putting on a rodeo works. When you enter, you don’t really see the work.” He believes that the experience gave him a newfound appreciation for how difficult it is to put on a rodeo like this. The experience was made even more unique by the fact that he got to see firsthand how the funds he raised were going to benefit others and expressed gratitude to the many people who helped. “I think the organizations do an amazing job, but the thing for me was seeing it in the community. They can see the benefit that it brings, and it’s really cool to see firsthand what the money and everything we put in will actually go to.”