2003 was the first year that all the bulls in the PRCA were ranked based on their average markings all year long, and those rankings used in the NFR selection process. Naturally, being the guy who tracked the bulls, I was interested to see how this project turned out with regard to the actual NFR performance vs. our ranking.

Obviously the goal is to have the best bulls available AT the NFR, and to then hope they have a good day. Since 100 bulls are chosen to provide 150 outs, some bulls will not get to go twice at the NFR. Usually, the better of the bulls are brought back for a second trip, and the weaker are not.

Below, we show the 2003 NFR bulls - first the two trip bulls, and below that, the single trip bulls - both ranked from highest marked to lowest marked. The row is highlighted gray if the bull was NOT ranked among the top 100 bulls by us prior to the NFR. Note that a few of our Top 100 were not available and therefore not AT the NFR due to being stuck in Canada.

These records show that the bulls with a Top 100 Probullstats Pre-NFR ranking - for the most part - out-performed the bulls ranked lower AND more of them came back for a second trip. Notably, the VAST majority of bulls producing 22.5+ marked trips AT the NFR carried a Top 100 Probullstats pre-NFR ranking.

At meetings held during the NFR, the PRCA Stock Contractors voiced their disapproval of this system and voted not to continue using these rankings in 2004. Due to this decision, the full rankings will not be compiled this year, although we will continue to keep the records and grade individual bulls as usual.