Wild Cow Milking May Be Banned at County Rodeos

A decision by the Alameda County Supervisors last week is likely to prohibit the practice of milking cows at any rodeo-style event in the area including the Rowell Ranch Rodeo in Castro Valley.

Wild cow milking is a rodeo event that involves separating a lactating mother from her calf in the arena. A team of contestants, with one on horseback, lasso the cow and wrestle her to the ground so one of the contestants can milk her. The event has been typically part of a Cowboy Challenge series of events a day or two before the main Rowell Rodeo weekend every May.

The issue was brought to the Supervisors for a vote in early August and included verbiage that would have also restricted the use of spurs, flank straps, and tie-down calf roping. The item was trying to change ordinance 5.08 to ban activities and tools safely used in ranching, equestrian, horse racing, local parades, county fair, and rodeos.

After deliberation by the Board, Supervisor Richard Valle introduced a motion that removed all provisions from the originally proposed amendment except for the prohibition of wild cow milking. That amended motion passed unanimously. The ordinance requires a second reading and board approval in the next 30 days for the ban to be permanent.

The change in the ordinance was promoted by animal rights groups like Action for Animals and In Defense of Animals. The later group said it helped change the rules in Alameda County in 2019 with the banning of "mutton busting" at rodeo events.

“Thousands of In Defense of Animals supporters want all rodeo cruelty ended in Alameda County, but we still strongly support a ban on wild cow milking. We continue to urge the Board of Supervisors to approve this important ordinance amendment for a second time,” Erin Dobrzyn, Farmed Animals Campaigner with the non-profit group In Defense of Animals, said in a statement.

Russ Fields, President of the Rowell Ranch Pro Rodeo Committee said he does not agree with the outcome of the Supervisor’s motion but says he is relieved to know that ranching, rodeo, and community events will continue. 

“I am disappointed that we lost another local event,” Fields told the Forum. “Special interests continue to work to discriminate against agriculture, ranching, and rodeo.  I continue to invite local elected leaders, and anyone who is interested, to visit the rodeo and our Cowboy Experience, which brings everyone down into the arena, so they can learn the facts firsthand about Rowell Ranch Rodeo.”

Fields also added that the care and handling of the livestock “always come first,” and that the rodeo events are governed by more than 70 animal welfare rules.

“All local rodeo events and local rodeo participants must abide by the same animal welfare rules that our professionally sanctioned Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) rodeo operates under.  We also follow the strict rules of the State Penal Code and local animal welfare laws,” Fields said.

He added that Rowell has reviewed its annual statistics since 2006 for the local wild cow milking event specifically with only one cow fatally injured in 2014. 

“We have had in total approximately 700 cows and horses involved in the event. Our injury record is less than one percent; having lost one cow in 2014,” Fields said. “We learned from that situation in 2014 and made appropriate changes to the event.  We have had no other animal injuries in this event.”

The second reading of the ordinance is expected to go before the Supervisors in late October.