At first glance, Dakota Brandenburg does not fit the stereotype one would imagine a stock contractor to look like. Working behind the rough stock chutes at the big Down Under rodeo at Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia, Brandenburg’s petite frame seems at odds with the job. But during the bull riding at Australia’s biggest rodeo, it became obvious that she was the no-nonsense chute boss in charge of all things bucking bull-related. She effortlessly navigated over the chute pipe railings like a gymnast, grabbing flank straps, rolling a troublesome bull to the next chute, and giving advice to bull riders, all while still pulling for the bulls to buck their best.
Brandenburg is one of only a handful of female stock contractors in the world, and first one to operate in Australia. She joins an elite group of lady stock contractors operating in the United States, which includes Kristin Vold of the legendary Vold Stock Contracting company. Vold specializes in some of the best saddle broncs and bareback bronc horses in rodeo. Tristan Davis, the wife and business partner of the PRCA’s 1995 Worlds Champion Bull Rider Jerome Davis, is another member of America’s small but growing sorority of female stock contractors.
Family Roots
Given Brandenburg’s family rodeo background, it shouldn’t too be surprising to see her running the chutes, bulls, and bull riders.
Her dad, Darren “Brandy” Brandenburg, was twice Australia’s champion bull rider and also All-Around Cowboy. After retiring from bull riding, he worked hard to build one of the country’s top stock companies, Brandenburg Bucking Bulls, based on a 2,000-acre ranch in central Queensland. Brandenburg’s mom, Bridget, is a champion barrel racer and All-Around Cowgirl. So, when Brandenburg turned 18, her parents sat her down for the “university or no university” talk. She didn’t miss a beat.
“I wanted to learn more about breeding bucking bulls, new feeding programs, all of the things they were doing in the States that we weren’t doing as much of at the time in Australia,” she recalls.
Her parents, and dad in particular, were more than pleasantly surprised at their daughter’s request. After all, Brandenburg had been helping load and unload bulls, going to bucking bull sales with Brandy, and otherwise already been involved in the family business since she was 13.
Stateside “Internship”
With her request to go stateside, she had essentially planted the seeds for her own version of a bucking bull’s internship. Her dad contacted an old friend, top PBR stock contractor Jeff Robinson of Mars, N.C. The teenage Australian cowgirl soon found herself on American shores for six months, where she took particular interest in Robinson’s breeding program and paid attention to his bulls’ vaccinations and nutrition.
“I’m really heath-conscious myself, working out and watching what I eat, just like a lot of the best bronc and bull riders,” says Brandenburg. “It just made sense to ask a lot of questions about what the bulls were being fed, and what supplements and new vaccinations were being given to them. Our bulls are athletes, just like the cowboys. I learned a lot from my time in the States. I can tell you that today, most rodeo bulls are genetically bred to buck and enjoy it just as much as a bull rider making a great ride.”
Brandenburg has taken the lead in running a lot of the family business, but she stresses that it’s a group endeavor.
“Besides my dad, my two brothers have also been bull riders,” she says. “The five of us all operate as a family. We all have an equal vote. That’s the beauty of it.”
Though she’s still not averse to taking occasional advice from her dad.
“Dad has strong opinions on bulls,” she adds with a laugh.
Brandy certainly earned that right, not only from being an Australian bull riding champion but also from tangling unsuccessfully a dozen times with Australia’s most famous bucking bull, Chainsaw, the Down Under version of America’s famous bull Bodacious. Chainsaw was literally the superstar of the Australian rodeo circuit for almost a dozen years. He was known for his radical simultaneous twisting and bucking high jumps right out of the chute gate, and his cocky attitude, where he would take a victory lap around the arena every time he bucked off a rider. In the 1980s, even big city Australian folks in Sydney and Melbourne who knew nothing about rodeo had heard of Chainsaw.
An Observant Eye
Right now, Brandenburg has around 150 bulls to pick from for rodeos and PBR events.
“Early on, I discovered I had an eye for picking out good potential bucking bulls at sales,” she says. “Now most of the best bulls come from breeding programs. Even though we only buck bulls at rodeos, we have 120-some bred-to-buck cows with great bloodlines to match up with our best bulls.
“Just like humans, every animal has their own personality,” she adds. “The more you mix it up with them and observe them, it makes you appreciate how different they can be from each other. You simply can’t make an animal buck if he decides not to buck.”
In 2017, Australia’s Professional Bull Riders tour selected her Brandenburg Bucking Bulls as their very first stock contractor of the year.
“I knew I had earned the respect of the bull riders behind the chutes when I was chosen as stock contractor of the year,” she says of this honor.
Some of the top rodeo bulls in the States are valued as high as $250,000, but in Australia, Brandenburg often finds herself doing P.R. battles against detractors who attack her personally online and in the press. Still upbeat, she hopes to change the perspective of those who believe bull riding is a cruel sport.
“The people who seem to be the most upset by my involvement have never even been to a rodeo,” she says. “They have never been around big animals, or other livestock, yet they come up with these crazy claims about how we treat our bulls. Our bulls are like members of our family, and our livelihood depends on them.”
Involved with bucking bulls and rodeo since childhood, she has no plans to quit the business—this is the life she’s chosen.
“I’ll always be involved in stock contracting one way or another,” Brandenburg says. “You do it for your family. You do it for your brand.”
This article about Dakota Brandenburg appeared in the April 2024 issue of Western Life Today magazine. Click here to subscribe!
