When Pastor Rodney Mitchell of Alabama took an interest in owning a bucking bull, he was all in and raises the specialty stock on his farm in Phenix City.
Story By Cara Clark, Photos by Eliza Daffin
On the Alabama-Georgia line, where rolling pastures fade into pine-draped hills, a still pond glimmers like glass at the entrance of RD Cattle. Just beyond, cattle jostle one another, gathering around a red tractor. Their eyes flick toward Rodney and Angie Mitchell as the couple settles a new round bale in the field. The herd’s curiosity, tempered by a twitchy wariness is an American Bucking Bull Inc. (ABBI) trait that runs deep in their bloodline, where Brahma muscle meets powerful other strains to create bulls that twist, spin, and explode from the chute in an eight-second storm.
Rodney Mitchell is a man rooted in two very different arenas. One is the pulpit of Auburn Heights Baptist Church, where he delivers sermons with a shepherd’s heart. The other is a dirt-floored coliseum of chaos: the Pro Bull Riders (PBR) arena, where man and beast clash in a primal display of balance, willpower, and brute force.
In bull riding, the score is 50-50 — half earned by the cowboy, judged on control, form, and action. The other half belongs to the bull — measured in intensity, velocity, and unpredictability.
