The 2024 NFR tie-down roping calves have been sorted into three pens of 20, based on size.
According to Shane Hanchey, world champion and current PRCA tie-down roping event director, the calves—owned by Jeff Yates and Lanham Mangold—are divided into a big, medium and small pen.
“It’s going to be hard to say if the calves this year will be better than last year’s set,” Hanchey said. “Last year’s set had one arena record set on them; another calf got up to set another arena record and broke the average record on 10 head. But as a whole, I think these calves are better. You never know how the calves will be until they kick the bright lights on with the crowd and music pumping through the Thomas & Mack.”
NFR Calf Preparation
As in previous years, the top 15 calf ropers gathered at Hanchey’s house in Carmine, Texas, to prepare the calves. This means they were run and tied before heading to Las Vegas to teach them a pattern to help them stay in optimal shape during the finals.
“A big game changer for this year is we get to breakaway them along with tying them down the first three mornings,” Hanchey said. “JP Wickett helped me get that back in. I think getting to breakaway them one more time will keep them leaving truer and running to the backend. I’m excited we get to do that.”
After the 75 head of cattle arrived in Sin City, the top 15 breakawayed the calves and tied them from the chute Monday, Dec. 2, narrowing the herd to the final 60 calves.
“This year, we tied the medium set first, then the small set and the big set last,” Shad Mayfield said. “We tied them all one time and got a list of what they did. Then we breakaway each set in the same order: medium set, small set, big set. After seeing them all go through and see what they are, we pick which set we want to rope in the first round on Thursday. Then, Thursday morning, we will tie them all down again.”
Money Picks
It’s no secret that “Money” Mayfield is gunning for his second tie-down world championship and first all-around title. Headed into the first round, Mayfield is most excited for the big pen of calves. Aboard the 2024 AQHA Horse of the Year, Figure To Fly, aka Lollipop, Mayfield noted that the bigger calves suit him and his horses best.
“I think the big pen is the best pen of cattle,” Mayfield said. “They’re more evenly rounded calves and will hold up the rest of the week better than the other pens. I think the small set and the medium set are way too small. I don’t think they’re going to hold up as well. Of all my NFRs, I feel like the small and medium pens are the smallest sets of calves I’ve ever roped at the NFR. But they’re good calves. The rounds will be fast on those, and there will be a lot of fast times on the smaller sets. The big pen, that’s a grittier set of calves. It will take more horsepower and grit in the ropers to get by on the big set of calves.”
