This Ain’t No Rodeo: Alameda Considers Strict Rules for Cowboys

The Alameda County Board of Supervisors will consider new restrictions on rodeos next month. A proposed ordinance would ban wild cow milking, the use of spurs, and bucking straps at the bovine-wrestling contests.

Animal rights activists in the East Bay have been pushing for more restrictions on rodeos for years. In 2019, Alameda banned the practice of mutton busting, in which children ride sheep and compete for who can hold on the longest.  

These practices are cruel, critics say. Ranchers argue the county is interfering with their way of life.

“Our lifestyles are important, cultures are important,” Alameda County rancher Brian Morrison told the Mercury News. “For this ordinance to try to be piggybacked on to hurt a particular culture and institution like the Rowell Ranch Rodeo is shameful.”  

Alameda County is home to several popular rodeos at the Alameda County Fairgrounds, Livermore and Castro Valley.