Horse trainers also need lots of fresh calves for practice. The National Cutting Horse Association needs 8,500 calves for its National NCHA World Championship Futurity. The association uses 16,000 calves for its three major shows. Heifers make the best cutting calves. Steers give up too easily, and little bulls sometimes try to fight back.
Most shows require the supplier to load, transfer and unload all cattle used in the event.
Suppliers also may have to move the cattle from the holding pens on the show grounds to the main arena gate and then return them to the pens after the contest. Even if you don't have the numbers to provide cattle for a show, you can probably find cutting-horse people in your area who want 20 to 100 fresh calves a month to train their horses. At least 10 calves are needed per horse in a cutter's training stable. With calf prices at high levels, make sure you have a written agreement on how much the animals are worth and who is responsible for injuries, treatment of sick animals, death losses and stolen animals. Transporting cattle stresses them, and there's always the potential for animals to get sick or hurt.