Agricultural Literacy 2019-2020

Installment #2 Bulls

To be used with the article entitled, “How to Make a : Good Breeding and Just Maybe, a Cow’s Love,” by James Gorman. Students may retrieve this article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/05/science/bulls-rodeo-animals.html.

COMMON CORE TECHNICAL CORE STANDARDS: AG-AMI 4 AG-AMI 6

Name: ______Date: ______Class Period: _____

How to Make a Bucking Bull

Retrieve and read the article entitled, “How to Make a Bucking Bull: Good Breeding and, Just Maybe, a Cow’s Love,” by James Gorman. This article can be retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/05/science/bulls-rodeo-animals.html. For each question, write the letter of the best answer in the blank provided.

1. _____ According to the article, what is the job of the bucking bull? A. To scare the audience by injuring or appearing to injure the rider. B. To produce semen that sells for thousands of dollars per straw. C. To buck, spin, and kick as hard and unpredictably as they can with a rider. D. To throw a rider within three seconds in the ring.

2. _____ What is the most common injury to bull riders? A. broken wrist B. concussion C. joint separation D. facial lacerations

3. _____ Figurative language is the use of a word or phrase differently from its normal, everyday meaning. Figurative language usually is a simile, metaphor, personification, or idiom used to describe something in a creative way. Which of the following statements does NOT use figurative language? A. The animals emerge into an animal-athlete locker room. B. Some bulls walk calmly into the mazelike corral. C. Some bulls come in hot, trying to charge the workers. D. For the riders, is astonishingly dangerous.

4. _____ According to the article, how is bull riding different from other rodeo events? A. Bull riding is more physically demanding than other events. B. Bull riding events do not use rodeo clowns. C. Bull riders are required to wear helmets. D. Bull riding did not originate from ranch skills.

5. _____ Which of the following statements is CORRECT? A. Three bull riders were killed in 2018. B. Bull are given Red Bull drinks to make them angry. C. Bull riding did not exist until the 1960’s. D. Most bucking bulls are less than two years old.

6. _____ MATH CONNECTION. The bull named Bushwhacker was successfully ridden just twice out of 64 outs. What percentage of the time was Bushwhacker ridden successfully? A. 3 percent B. 13 percent C. 32 percent D. 46 percent

7. _____ How has the sport of bull riding changed since 1995? A. Cowboys have increased their riding success rate from 26 percent to 71 percent. B. Bulls are smaller than they were in 1995. C. In 1995 cowboys completed an 8 second ride 46 percent of the time; today they complete the ride about 29 percent of the time. D. Cowboys are required to wear more protective gear now than in 1995.

8. _____ Why did some people question Scott Accomazzo’s Christianity and accuse him of playing God? A. He used in vitro fertilization to breed . B. He used artificial insemination to breed cattle. C. He would not ride Bushwhacker when his name came up. D. He had a bull cloned.

9. _____ The article says, “Manuney, and other riders, said it’s the bull’s job to buck and the rider’s job to hang on. No animosity either way. Animosity means A. laziness B. hate C. love D. professionalism

10. _____ What is the current trend in bucking bull breeding? A. All bulls are bred by the circuit. B. All bulls are the result of artificial insemination. C. Breeders focus on the quality of cow that mothers the bull calf. D. Breeders focus on the age of the bull calf’s father.

11. _____ Which of the following is one of the common misconceptions about bucking bull performances? A. Many people think the the bull to make him buck. B. Many people think the bulls are mistreated to make them mean. C. Many people think the flank strap is painful, causing the bull to buck. D. Many people think cowboys get thrown in order to choose a different bull for their next ride.

12. _____ What is the job American Bucking Bull, Inc.? A. Provide health insurance for bull riders. B. Provide life insurance for bull riders’ families. C. Prevent foreign breeding companies from bringing bulls in to the U.S. D. Maintain a registry of 180,000 bulls and cows and their pedigrees.

13. Which of the following statements best describes the main idea of this article? A. As a result of good breeding, bucking bulls have become harder to ride. B. As a result of irresponsible breeding, bucking bulls have become meaner. C. Bull riding is a big time sport even though it is dangerous for the bulls. D. Bull riders are successful only because of their intense training.

OPEN RESPONSE

Using specific information from the article, describe four evidences that the bucking bulls are valued and cared for, not mistreated.