Monthly Archives: June 2026

Calf Tracker helps keep tabs on timed-event livestock in rodeo MARYVILLE, Mo. – The art of scouting in rodeo is evolving. Just like football teams who watch film of an upcoming opponent, cowboys and cowgirls try to learn as much as they can about the animal they have drawn. For years, they have studied sheets and made phone calls to gather as much information as possible. From the start through the run, animals have tendencies, and the contestants hope all their homework can pay off. With that in mind, Gary Shipps and the late Rod Espey developed Calf Tracker, an app to help contestants obtain better information with just a touch. “I just saw a need,” said Shipps, a businessman in Maryville. “I watched Rob use his phone to write down cattle. He was using the notebook app on his phone, and I thought, ‘That’s got to be incredibly hard to find a specific number, especially in the heat of the moment. It cannot be that hard to solve.’ “That’s what got me going, and I just looked around and found a guy to do it. With just a phone call, he really nailed that first version. Rob got to test it and gave thoughts on what it needed, gave really positive feedback. Rob was the guy you needed to make it work like it works.” Just as Calf Tracker was getting off the ground, Espey was killed in June 2024 after being struck by lightning. Shipps has continued the app’s development as a tribute to his friend. “I’d just like to see the app become prevalent,” Shipps said. “I wanted to see it succeed for him. He knew how to make it work. He knew how good it was.” He wasn’t the only one. Because of its availability, Calf Tracker is being utilized. It allows for competitors to see information on each individual animal. If no notes have been created for a specific one, then a competitor can begin the process. The goal is to have a good outline on each calf or steer in each herd, and more information can be added along the way. “We use it all the time,” wrote Jackie Crawford, a 23-time world champion roper from Stephenville, Texas. “It’s a great app.” Calf Tracker has taken off among breakaway ropers. More and more ladies are using it, like Crawford. “We were all just standing around there in the arena, and my husband ended up actually downloading it,” said Christi Braudrick, a past Prairie Circuit breakaway roping champion who is also the rodeo coach at Kansas State University and serves as a breakaway roping director for the WPRA. “I don’t remember how I was introduced to it, but I think somebody had it. My husband has always been the guy that keeps up with that stuff. “That’s how it started, and then I guess we just started sharing it. It’s super convenient and way better than writing stuff down.” Calf Tracker users can punch in the number associated with the cow. In Braudrick’s case, her husband, Kyle, will key in a certain calf’s brand digits to locate the animal. He will then scour the information to help his wife or other ropers have a better advantage by the time they are ready to compete. “You don’t have much time, because the draw is only an hour and a half before we start,” Christi Braudrick said. “Most of the time, we’d go into the rodeo secretary’s office and hope to find a sheet that shows all the runs from another rodeo those calves were at. “This is way easier just to show, and it really comes in handy in the summer months because you’ll rope the same calves continuously.” It’s an app that can be used for all cattle-based timed events. Many rodeos utilize the same stock contractors. The bulldogging steers that ran in Sydney, Iowa, may be used the next week in Sikeston, Missouri. “It’s just so simple to use,” Shipps said. “I showed this to some team ropers way back in the development, and their eyes just bugged out of their heads.” Calf Tracker has matured over time, as with any development. Some things have been added, others subtracted. It’s been tailored to best meet the needs of users. “You will be able to see every run on that calf,” Shipps said. “If it’s been there four times, there should be four runs recorded, and you can see every one of those. There is a place for notes, so it might be, ‘They were 12.6 on this calf; he broke fast and then went left.’ You can put whatever notes you want there. “It’s all traceable back to the calf.” When the difference between first and second is a tenth of a second, every advantage matters. “I really think the reason a lot of the guys in other events don’t use it is because they’re just not familiar with it,” Braudrick said. “I’ve thought about telling the bulldoggers on my rodeo team that they should download that so they can keep track of their steers better. “I think everybody would benefit from it.”