Buzzard's Beat by Brandi Buzzard

12/24/2025

NATIONAL FINALS BREAKAWAY ROPING

“What other stand alone event would have sold out a 3500 seat venue?

Breakaway roping... We did it...

If your local rodeo doesn't have breakaway, make sure they know that they should. We are here to stay. Representation matters.”

These are wise words from one of my best friends of more than 25 years, Michelle Bartley Wilson.

When Bart and I were junior rodeoing together, then high school, then college and amateur, we’d only dreamed that breakaway would be a professional event. Once we were out of college, we only had events May-September. Jackpots and winter rodeos were rare. We’d only dreamed breakaway would have an NFR. And look at it now.

Our daughters - my 2 and her 1 - have never known a time when breakaway wasn’t a mainstream event. They’ll never know what it’s like to petition and beg smaller regional rodeo associations to . They’ve only ever known breakaway at the biggest rodeos and on the largest stages.

Earlier this week, a big group of junior rodeo moms (who all came up through junior, high school, college and amateur rodeos together) all took our daughters to see the best in the world rope for big money. They met some of the stars (thanks Kelsie, LD and Jackie) and yelled their little hearts out.

Someday, girls who are now my daughters’ age - maybe even my daughters! - are going to rope in the Thomas & Mack. It’s coming.

Breakaway ropers are a force. We’re here to stay.

12/22/2025

I CALLED WAYNE PACELLE A HYPOCRITE
And boy howdy, he didn’t like that.

Yes, this is the same Wayne Pacelle of animal rights extremism fame (although he’s known for something else entirely now {Google it}).

Back to the hypocrite part: what else should we call someone who dismissed financial concerns for pig farmers who opposed Prop 12 but is now using “economic jeopardy” - for farmers he likes - as a defense for keeping Prop 12?

I’ll let you be the judge after reading my latest column for AGDAILY (🔗 below)

12/17/2025

This is great news! My kids have been raised on whole milk since toddlerhood and would rather drink water than 1% or skim, and they're not alone in that, clearly.

"Whole and reduced-fat milk were removed from school menus in 2012 and schools were limited to fat-free and 1% milk, and flavored milk was required to be fat-free. While intended to improve student health, the change coincided with a decline in school milk consumption and reduced choice for students.

Over the past decade, a growing body of research has shown that milk fat has a neutral or even positive effect on health outcomes. That evolving science, combined with changing consumer preferences, helped build bipartisan support for restoring flexibility in school milk offerings."

A big win for schools and kids!

This just in: The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act. Thank you to everyone who joined — your voices mattered.

With today’s passage of this bipartisan bill, schools now have the option to serve whole and reduced-fat (2%) milk again. The bill now heads to the President’s desk to be signed into law.

This is an important step toward providing families and students with more nutritious, wholesome choices during critical meal times.

We thank Representatives Congressman Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) and Congresswoman Kim Schrier (D-Wash.), more than 115 bipartisan co-sponsors, and Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kan.) and Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) for their leadership in advancing legislation to restore whole milk options in school cafeterias.

This is just another great example of the power we hold when we all work together!

12/15/2025

Over the weekend, we took my daughter and a friend to the The Kansas City Chiefs game for her birthday. *no nasty comments, y'all*

During halftime, I took the girls to the ladies room to warm up their feet and rearrange the hot hands warmers and when we came back, the halftime entertainment was wrapping up: four border collies playing frisbee fetch on a football field. The crowd was thoroughly enjoying it and normally, I would have, too.

But it reminded me of my best canine friend who is playing fetch across the rainbow bridge, which she cross a year ago last Friday.

I thought I'd be ok a year later, but I'm not. I may never own another dog again. Owning another border collie would almost certainly be unbearably difficult. Her dog bed lies empty in the garage but I still find her hair clinging to random socks, work coats and gloves, just like she is still clinging to every corner of my heart.

We don't deserve dogs. They love far larger and deeper than we can imagine.

If you're looking for a tearjerker read today, my tribute to my ranch dog will most certainly do it.
https://buzzardsbeat.com/2025/08/the-final-fetch.html/

12/10/2025

You’ll never convince me that prettier sunsets exist outside of fall & winter.

Something about choring in the last remnants of daylight - making sure the cattle and horses are fed, watered and comfortable - before heading in the house for supper with my family gives me a sense of peace and calm.

In a nation with so much unrest and divisiveness, it’s nice to spend a few minutes focusing on what means the most to me - my family, our ranch and the animals in our care.

12/05/2025

Y'all know rodeo is my #1 passion and it's the biggest rodeo week of the year! It's time for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo and I have several friends making runs in the Thomas & Mack the next 9 nights (last night was the first round and I missed it because I was driving).

Cheering for my friends Weston Patterson Professional Saddle Bronc Rider, Jesse Pope Professional Ba****ck Rider, Tom Crouse - PRCA Athlete and Emily Miller Beisel who are all my fellow Prairie and Great Lakes Circuit competitors!

Also cheering loudly for Red Hot Barrel Horses/Tricia Aldridge for her first NFR with Adios! I got to meet her in Waco at the Women's Professional Rodeo Association World Finals and she is such a cool lady!

Good luck to all the contestants! Drop a comment and let me know who you're cheering for as well!

12/03/2025

Started my day out with Jeniffer Vickery Smith on RFD-TV's Market Day Report speaking about the importance of agriculture voices in today's media landscape.

Also talked about my upcoming appearance on the Dirt Diaries podcast with RanchHer/FarmHer - will share it here when it airs!

Happy Wednesday!

12/02/2025

Hunger depresses me.
😔
Not personally in an "I'm hungry" way but in a "This is the richest nation in the world and we have hungry children and people in every county in America."

Roughly 47 million people live in food insecure homes - about 14 million of those are children. This is wrong in so many ways - we raise and produce way too much food in the U.S. for so many people to be going hungry.

In our community, the 4-H club I assist in leading held a food drive for the local food bank. Our church is doing the same. And while these are noble efforts for the holidays, the reality is that people suffer hunger year round.

I'm donating to Feeding America on this Giving Tuesday for a variety of reasons and here's why I think you should, too:

- They receive a 4-star rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - the highest rating available from Charity Navigator - they are legit. They are Forbes' #1 charity and 98% of all donations are put directly into programs and services that help people facing hunger.

- They have 60,000 partner agencies nationwide and provide 6.6 BILLION meals to tens of millions of people every year.

- Feeding America also supports programs to improve food security among the people they serve.

- They bring attention to the social and systemic barriers that contribute to food insecurity in our nation.

- They advocate for policy and legislation to prevent people from going hungry in the first place.

- One cause I particularly love is Feeding America's support or programs that prevent food waste. We can't feed people if we're throwing food in the trash!

Now through 12/5, Tony Robbins is double-matching all donations so your gift will be amplified 2x!
FeedingAmerica.org/TonyRobbins

I hope you'll join me in supporting a very worthy cause. Thank you for being here. I posted my receipt in the comments - I never ask my followers to donate if I'm not willing to as well.

12/01/2025

THESE TWO MANTRAS
.. mean so much to me. I have built my career on these two thoughts. The first, Luck Looks Like Hard Work, talking about hard work and how it translates to luck in my career, on our ranch and in the rodeo arena. I have a keynote about this topic and it's become my calling card of sorts.

The second - Stop. Blaming. Cows. is another mantra I try to spread far and wide. Cows are not the scapegoat for climate change, the economy or our nation's health.

Both of these thoughts, which have played such a huge hand in my career, are now designs in my s h o p which is open and functioning today on Cyber Monday!

Use BUZZARD to e-v-a-s (read that backwards) through tonight Farm Focused and get an awesome cap if you drop fourdy!

People won't stop blaming cows until we tell 'em!

11/29/2025

TELL ME THE BEST THING YOU BOUGHT YESTERDAY!
👇🏻
I got my kids some much needed new shoes and stocked up on my favorite skin-allergy-friendly makeup products.

While you're sitting at home in the cold, wet weather watching football today, I'd love your attention to my humble little shop. All the designs are my ideas and help with content creation costs (Vimeo, Canva, tripods, microphones and iPhone aren't cheap 😂 ).

Your support also helps with jr basketball fees, groceries, jr. rodeo sponsorships and all the other costs of life.

I appreciate you all so much for being here - your support, voices, clicks, comments, shares and kind messages mean so much. Thank you for helping me keep this dream alive!

Now through Monday at 11:59 pm use code BUZZARD to save AND with every $40 purchase, get a fun comped hat from Farm Focused!

🔗 in comments

11/25/2025

It rained ALL DAY yesterday so naturally we’re breeding cows today in 6” of mud and you know what…
😂🙄🤦🏻‍♀️💩

This date was planned months ago when we lined out breeding schedules based on the Thanksgiving holiday, when we would need to give hormone injections for syncing heats and junior rodeos! So we can’t really do anything about it other than get it done - when the cows are in heat, they need AId (artificially inseminated), there’s no wiggle room
🦃⏰
Super glad I’ve got these lightweight Udder Tech Inc. overalls or my jeans would be absolutely ruined.

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*udder tech didn’t give me any $ to post this, I just love these overalls! I have a pair of their pants, too, that I wear over my jeans at muddy rodeos.