Locke Bucking Bulls

Brothers Johnny and David Locke of Texas have spent over 25 years building a breeding
program around their love of bucking bulls, family and God. Through the years, Locke
Bucking Bulls has been able to rise to the top amidst triumphs and challenges with hard
work, determination and faith.

Johnny Locke got his start in the bucking bull business as a bull rider. “I started riding
bulls in high school,” Johnny said. “I’d have a little success here and there but as time
went by, I got out of high school and it was time to either go pro or quit. I knew I
couldn’t make enough money riding bulls but I also knew I wanted to be in the bucking
bull business. I started buying a few bulls out of the sale barn and, with time, I realized
that didn’t work,” he said.

Making the transition to bred-to-buck cattle was made easily with the help of Derrel
Hargis. “We traded two grown bulls to Derrel Hargis for four Plummer calves,” David
said. “We got to buck these calves at his place and choose what we wanted. We were
doing it to grow them up as bucking bulls,” he said. “Of those four yearling calves, one
of them ended up being the grandsire to 22 Chief that Harper hauled.”

Chief was the first bull from the Locke breeding program to make the finals. “He went
un-ridden in 1997 until Tuff Hedeman rode him at the PBR Finals,” Johnny said.

The Locke brothers had other successful bulls such as Amtrak and Bionic Spot during
the 1990’s. Before these bulls left the ranch, they were used as breeding bulls and many
of Locke-bred bucking bulls can trace their lineage back to Amtrak, Bionic Spot and
Chief.

“We were kind of reluctant to sell Chief because we were breeding to him but Dale
Lyons told us he would lease us some bulls to breed to and that’s what turned us on to
the CP 100 and Sports Machine bloodline,” David said.

The bulls Dale Lyons sent to the Lockes were Sports Machine sons Lyons King and
Nicademus. “Dale went on to sell them and they ended up going to the PBR Finals,”
Johnny said.

According to Johnny and David, the Sports Machine bloodline increased the percentage
of buckers per calf crop. “Our percentages really went up when we started putting
Sports Machine and Lyons King breeding into everything we had started with,” David
said.

In 2003, D&H Cattle Company hauled 12 Vanilla Sky, 2 Bad Wicked and 11 J Lo for
Johnny and David. All three bulls were sons of Lyons King. Skip Beeler’s 211 Hair
Trigger, a 90-point club bull in 2003 and 2004, and Berger and Riken’s Toy Tiger are
also Lyons King sons.

J Lo is probably the most renowned son of Lyons King to date. He was selected for the
2004 and 2005 NFRs and was the high-marked bull in round three at last year’s NFR
with an impressive marking of 47.5.

While Lyons King sons have already established a reputation in the arena, they are now
proving they can sire future champions as well. Six years ago, a half sister to 22 Chief
gave birth to a Lyons King son that Johnny and David named Pride Rock. In June, Pride
Rock’s first competition-aged son, 465 Outa Da Blue, was crowned champion of the
ABBI’s American Heritage Futurity in Ardmore, Oklahoma.

Last fall, Johnny and David sold six un-bucked calves to Circle T Farms. “They were
just going to buy five calves and I didn’t think that was enough money so I told them if
they were going to get calves at that price that they’d have to buy one more. The sixth
calf they picked was 465 Outa Da Blue. I’m so thankful to Circle T for coming to town
and exposing our breeding program to the world,” Johnny said.

Johnny and David agreed that Outa Da Blue’s pedigree is something they can be proud
of. “If you look on his pedigree, he’s seven generations deep on bloodlines. All the
back to CP 100 and Ronnie Roach’s 161 White Sports Coat daughter that is the mother
to Sports Machine. There’s lots of people that can take credit for 465,” Johnny said.

In addition to 465, Locke Bucking Bulls raised Zac Attack, a double-bred Lyons King
calf sired by J Lo that has placed at some NBBA Youth Futurities this year. Zac, David’
s oldest son, owns Zac Attack.

Locke Bucking Bulls also has some outstanding Classic bulls to their credit. Paradise
Farms has had two Classic bulls that were products of the Locke breeding program one
of which was 714 Villain, a top twenty classic bull before entering PBR competition in
2005.

The more known Classic bull was 211 Doris. “I came up with the name Doris because
my mother picked this calf to be a superstar when he was young. A couple years later,
my mother died of cancer and we started bucking this bull. We got to two classics with
him and won money at both of them. I sold him and when I sold him I had a contract
drawn up that says his name can’t change and I kept some breeding rights to him,”
Johnny said.

That fall, at the ABBI World Finals, Chris Shivers won the first round of the Classic
Finals on 211 Doris.

What makes the story of Doris even more amazing is how he came to be in the pen
Doris Locke selected him from. “At one time, we sold some Chief cows to Trent West,”
Johnny said. “Some time later we bought one of those cows back. This cow was bred to
Barracuda of Thomas Taylor’s, a Houdini son. The calf she had was 211 Doris,” he
said.

“We still own Doris’ mother and now we’ve got a handful of three-year-old sons of him.
I’ve got some Doris daughters we’re breeding to Pride Rock too,” Johnny said.

In addition, the Lockes have cattle sired by J Lo. “We’re really excited about some of
our three-year-old J Lo sons,” David said.

Almost any bull used for breeding on the Locke ranch is a product of their breeding
program or a bull from Dale Lyons. “Other than Dale loaning us those bulls, we really
haven’t purchased anything from other breeding,” David said. “We’ve always tried to
breed to bulls we’ve raised. I’d much rather breed to something we raised because I’m
confident it will work,” he said.

“We linebreed and we breed a lot of half brothers and half sisters together,” David said.
“Dale had success breeding half brothers and half sisters together so we weren’t scared
to do that.”

When it comes down to deciding which bull to breed to, Johnny said, “We look for the
most complete individual animal. They have all the pedigree they want, but they need to
buck too. Mostly, I look for what’s on the inside. We’re not raising beef cattle, we’re
raising bucking cattle.”

As for female selection, David said, “We always kept the half sisters to the most
successful bulls. We didn’t sell many females then and we still don’t. We don’t buck
our females but you do want them to have some hook and fire to them.” He added, “It
takes you at least seven years to find out what their bulls will do. It’s a long-term
investment.”

One of the few people to purchase females from the Locke breeding program was Marty
Foutch of Bar F Rodeo Genetics in Whitesboro, Texas. According to Foutch, he
purchased six cows from the Locke brothers in 1996. “That’s basically what we started
our herd with,” he said.

Foutch said, “At that time, there wasn’t hardly anybody putting emphasis on females and
I think that’s the reason Johnny and David have been successful. We’ve always been in
the horse business and the broodmares are where you build your herd. We knew our
cows were going to be important.”

He added, “We kept those cows into our herd until last year when we sold some of our
older cows but I’ve still got daughters and granddaughters out of them.”

David said the success of the Locke breeding program can be partially attributed to the
CP 100 bloodline. “We were lucky to be able to tap into that original CP 100 bloodline
and that insured our success,” he said. “I always want to give Dale credit for our
success because that’s where it comes from.”

Johnny agreed that the friendship with Dale Lyons has been crucial to the success of
Locke Bucking Bulls. “The closer you stay to the Big L Ranch, the better off you are in
the bucking bull business,” Johnny said. “We’ve done a lot for ourselves but there’s
been a lot of people who have helped us. Nobody’s going to do it on their own.”

Dale Lyons modestly attributes the success of Locke Bucking Bulls to something else.
“Johnny started out with a bull called Amtrak that was a Simmental, Charolais cross. I’
ve said it a thousand times, I think if you had a Simmental and crossed it with something
that bucked it’d be great for the futurities. I think Amtrak crossed with some Plummer
genetics or something with some action and spin seems to work,” Lyons said.

“It seems like his stuff is crossing good on Sports Machine blood,” he added.

“Johnny is a pretty good guy and I promise you if I wanted to get anything he’s got, I
could,” Lyons said. “I’m really proud of Johnny that his deal is working.”

In addition to CP 100 and the relationship with Dale Lyons, Johnny and David said faith
in God has been an important part of their success. “One of the things that’s been key
with us is my mother instilled in us a faith in God that is unwavering,” David said.

Faith in God has helped Johnny and his family to have a positive outlook even after
losing their home to wildfires last winter. “I am so thankful to all the bucking stock
breeders who contributed to our benefit auction. I want to help other folks like they
helped me in the future because it isn’t just me they’re helping, it’s my wife and kids, our
whole family,” Johnny said.

“We’re going to have good cattle prices and bad and we’re going to have drought, but the
Lord don’t put no more burdens on us than we can bear. He loves us and will take care
of us as long as we put Him first in our lives,” he added.

Rebuilding his family’s home is Johnny’s immediate goal. “I’ve got tunnel vision right
now,” he said. Construction is well underway and the family should be moved in before
this fall, he said.

As far as breeding program goals, Johnny said he has already accomplished much of
what he set out to do. “I did not expect to get this far in the bull business,” he said,
adding that his goals of raising a finals bull and futurity champion have already been
realized.

David said, “One goal we have set is to sell an animal for over 100 thousand dollars.
My main goal is to be able to stay toward the top of the industry until my kids are ready
to take over.”

Johnny also looks forward to handing the family business down to the next generation
some day. “I would like for my kids and David’s kids to be in the bull business and not
have to struggle,” Johnny said.

Johnny and David had similar advice to offer new breeders. Johnny advised, “Keep your
eyes on the prize. It’s not going to be easy. If it was easy, everybody would do it.
There will be good days and bad days but don’t give up when the first bad thing happens
to you and don’t get too boastful when you do have a good day.”

David said, “Be patient. If you buy females – and that’s what you want to get started in
the breeding side of it – it’s going to take a long time to decide if those females are going
to be producers or not. Stick with it and remember it takes the support and sacrifice of
your entire family to make things work. Our parents supported us a lot and our wives
and children continue to support us so we can continue to do this.”

There’s no doubt that Locke Bucking Bulls has influenced the bucking bull industry
greatly and will continue to do so for years to come. With another generation of young
bull breeders already waiting in the wings, it’s like Johnny always says – “The future’s so
bright we gotta wear shades.”

History

Johnny Locke
940-872-0733

David Locke
940-783-3032