WAURIKA — It’s the sport of “real working cowboys,” and the third Waurika Chamber of Commerce Ranch Rodeo is an opportunity for groups like the Cathey Company/Grace Livestock team to show their skills in events such as wild cow milking and ranch bronc riding.

Scott Cathey, owner of Cathey Company, will lead a five-man team that includes cowboys from Grace Livestock near Ringling, as they take part in the events Friday and Saturday at Rex Dunn’s Coyote Hills Arena. The rodeo starts at 7 p.m. each day.

“I’ll be in everything except the bronc riding,” Cathey, who’s also a Waurika city commissioner, said. “Ty Looper will ride the bronc. I think he won at Chickasha last week.”

Not interested in allowing his body to absorb the impact of bronc riding, Cathey said his favorite event is wild cow milking. “That’s where one guys ropes the cow and the other three run down and control the cow, and then one of them will milk it,” Cathey said.

In addition to ranch bronc riding and wild cow milking, cowboys will test their mettle in ranch team sorting, team doctoring and team branding.

With the rodeo coming up this weekend, Cathey said his cowboys will get in some practice, but that most of the preparation comes from everyday work.

“We’ll practice one or two days this week,” he said, “but most of what we do is what we do every day.”

Cathey said the event is more about competing than it is being in front of the crowd.

The competitive flavor of rodeoing tastes especially good to Cathey, who was an outstanding all-around athlete at Ryan High in the late 1980s. He played on Cowboy teams that annually competed in 8-man football state title games.

Cathey has also been rodeoing since he was young.

“It is fun to compete against your peers,” he said. “These are some of the best cowboys out there. There could be 15 of us in the middle of nowhere, and it would still be competitive.”

Waurika’s Ranch Rodeo is a family affair for the Catheys. “My son, Sage, is 10, and he’ll run the brand in the team branding,” Scott Cathey said. “It is good for him to get out and compete.”

Along with the competition, the ranch rodeo’s unique events makes this a special weekend.

“It is a lot of fun,” Cathey said. “Carl Gholson is the guy that pretty much runs the rodeo, and he does a great job. I’ve been to the Oklahoma Cattleman’s Association, the one at the Lazy E, and this one goes off as smooth as any of them.

“Todd Casebolt and James Gholson, who is Carl’s dad, judge the rodeo, and they keep it fair. Todd has been to the National Finals Rodeo in steer tripping. For Waurika, Oklahoma, we have as good of judges as you could ask for.”

Waurika Chamber President Brad Scott said he and Carl Gholson decided three years ago to put together a ranch rodeo.

“Carl Gholson and myself always wanted to have a ranch rodeo,” Scott said. “It used to be an open rodeo, and it turned into this. The winner of our event goes to the world championship in Amarillo in November.”

Waurika’s rodeo became a sanctioned Working Cowboys Rodeo Association (WCRA) event two years ago, and teams wanting to compete have to be on “the list” to get in.

“It is an invite-only rodeo, and we have 10 or 15 ranches on a waiting list to get in,” Scott said. “We invite back the same ranches each year.”

In addition to the Cathey/Grace entry, two other Jefferson County ranches are entered — Stuart Ranch in Waurika and Caddo, and Drummond Land and Cattle Company out of Pawhuska and Waurika. In addition, Sooner J Ranch of Rush Springs also has a team in the field.

There are eight teams from Texas: Thompson Ranch of Munday; Tongue River of Paducah; Bradley J 3 Ranch of Electra; Crutch/Mill Iron L Ranch of Canyon; J A Ranch of Clarendon; Circle Bar Ranch of Truscott and Hunter Ranch/NT Ranch of Knox City.

Buck Creek/Lonesome Pine Ranches in Cottonwood Falls, Kan., will be the other ranch competing for the trip to the world championships.

Scott said the rodeo has been a great fundraiser for the Waurika Chamber.

“It nets the Chamber about $9,000,” he noted. “Tickets are $5 for adults and $2 for kids, and we try to keep it there so everyone can come and enjoy it. Sponsors are where we make our money.”

In addition to the regular slate of ranch rodeo events, there will also be a wild cow riding and a calf scramble.

“The wild cow riding is a non-point event, but it is a crowd-pleaser,” Scott said.

In addition to the rodeo, there will be a ranch cutting horse event at 10 a.m. Saturday at Coyote Hills Arena. To enter the cutting horse competition, cowboys must have become a member of the Ranch Cutting Horse Association at least two weeks before the event.