The Pike County Cattlemen’s Fourth Annual Ranch Rodeo is set for 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Cattleman Park.

Cattleman Jack Davis said a Ranch Rodeo features the highest level of competitive team ranching events and a barrel of laughs and fun for those in the stands.

“Ranch Rodeos are kind of new rodeo events,” Davis said. “They got started out West when one bunch of ranch hands bragged they were better than another bunch of ranch hands. So the ranch owners decided to have a rodeo to see which one was the best. The ranch rodeos caught on.”

Davis said a Ranch Rodeo consists of five-member teams that compete in “chores” that are performed every day on the cattle ranch except for the Wild Cow Milking, which is the bull riding event of a Ranch Rodeo.

“At least one member of the team has to be a female and these folks aren’t professionals. They’re just folks that work on cattle ranches and are good at what they do,” Davis said. “We’ve got 14 teams entered. Three of them are from Pike County and we’ve got teams from Florida and Georgia. It will be a good Ranch Rodeo.”

The Ranch Rodeo events include stray gathering, calf branding, cattle sorting, trailer loading and wild cow milking.

“Stray gathering is where the team has to rope the stray and tie up three legs,” Davis said. “In calf branding, the team has to catch the calf, get it across the line and brand it with chalk, not a hot iron.”

The cattle sorting event, requires the team to sort three head of cattle, with all five team members mounted on horseback.

“The cattle are numbered and, when the team gets to the starting line, the judge calls the numbers,” Davis said. “The team has to sort the cattle with those numbers in descending order. Say, if the numbers are nine, eight and seven, and seven crosses the line before eight, then the team is disqualified.”

The trailer-loading event is a timed event. A yearling is put in the center of the arena and the team has to rope the calf and put it in the stock trailer.

The grand finale of a Ranch Rodeo is the wild cow-milking event.

“A mother cow is put in the area and the team has to catch her and there’s a tree loop limit,” Davis said. “Once she’s caught, she has to be milked into a 12-ounce, longneck bottle. When she’s milked, the team has to take off the rope and take the rope and the bottle of milk to the judge and he pours out the milk. That’s how that works.”

Davis said all of the events are just what happens every day on a cattle ranch in association with the cattle.

The Pike County Cattlemen’s Ranch Rodeo is produced by the Cattlemen and features good, wholesome family entertainment. The concession stand will be open with all of the Cattlemen’s famous “chuck” on the wagon. Everyone is invited to attend the Ranch Rodeo.

“If you come Friday night, you’ll have so much fun you’ll want to come back Saturday night,” Davis said.

Admission is $10 for adults. Children ages 10 and under are admitted free.