Corriente cattle at Boote Hill Ranch. Photo by Katie Boote.
“Up north here, our Corriente cattle have to be tough. They’ve got to have some bone and meat for them to make the winter. I sell mine at about 10 months. But you get down south, they might be 18 months old before they rope them because they’re down in that desert and they just don’t grow.” Demand is good – all of his calves for next spring are sold already. The animals aren’t sold on weight, but rather on quality horns for roping. “If you start out with 20 fresh calves in the spring, you’ll probably end up with 15 of them that are nice roping cattle.” Every fall, Dennis heads for the annual gathering of the North American Corriente Association in Gillette, Wyo. “Going to a Corriente show, it’s like going to a family reunion, except you like everyone. They’re just a whole lot of fun.” Dennis’ brother, Alan, was also active in rodeo and he roped Dennis into another adventure. Kevin Costner filmed a portion of his 1994 film “Wyatt Earp” at the Spanish Five Ranch located in the southern Black Hills. “They needed a couple guys to work all these buffalo because Wyatt Earp was a buffalo hunter for awhile. My brother called me and I said ‘Sure, why not?’ It turned out to be pretty fun.” What did Dennis know about herding 1,500 head of buffalo? “Not a damn thing until I got there,” he said.
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