Rafter N Western Entertainment

02/23/2026

Buckshot and Bandit basking in the winter sun.

03/04/2025

We are busy halter training our next riding steer/oxen prospect “Brisby”. His mom is a Dexter/Corriente cross cow and his dad is a Brahman/Highlander cross bull, so it’ll be interesting to see this animal perform and grow in the future!

Our main animals “Buckshot and Bandit” have graduated to a larger ox yoke this spring due to the growth in their bodies and horns. Some more minor adjustments need to be made, but soon we will be back to pulling wagons and other things around the place.

02/19/2025

With the cold snap that we’ve been having in Minnesota, we are dreaming of warmer weather!

12/26/2023

Merry Christmas from us to you!

12/03/2023

07/03/2023

I had the opportunity on Saturday to head up north to Walhalla, ND and be a part of their 175th town celebration. It’s impressive to think how those early settlers left Minneapolis/St. Paul MN with oxen and “red river carts” (oxcarts) heading north to settle this large vast wilderness only 5.5 miles away from the Canadian border in the early to mid 1800’s.

06/30/2023

Gassing up in Vergas, MN!

06/28/2023

Had the Rafter N herd all tied up the other night, getting some training in!

03/21/2023

Taking it back to 1998 when my passion with riding cattle began. I had always liked cattle more than horses and was always fascinated with them. At that time my dad was training cutting horses on Holstein calves so naturally I was always interested in them. After continuous work they became tame quickly. So tame that we thought; why not enter in the parade as Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. I was very excited for this and my dreams of riding a cow were coming true 😂. We got a lumberjack outfit together and painted the calf with blue animal paint and we were off! The parade was a success and the rest is history. Just thought I’d share some background on how I got tangled in this whole riding cow/ox gig in the first place!

03/18/2023

Here’s a little History about the first settler in my home county. Oxen have played a huge part in settling the state of Minnesota from hauling goods across the state, logging the northern woods, to working farmers fields. Oxen were an extremely good source of transportation/equipment due to how rugged they were built. They required less maintenance than horses and mules and were significantly cheaper. They also had the ability to eat/live off insufficient feed sources yet still produce great strengths of labor.

03/06/2023

Couple photos from our training session on Friday night with both of the steers. “Bandit” has been gaining ground as a riding animal very quickly and has a fast paced mentality about him, meanwhile his brother “Buckshot” is like molasses in the wintertime. Very slow and careful. It’s good to have both ends of the spectrum, they tend to even each other out.