CHICAGO ― Everyone knows what kind of effect extreme cold weather has on outdoor sports. Although most PBR events are held indoors, the recent cold is having a huge effect behind the scenes. Some of the bulls are heading to Chicago from New York, and others are coming from North Dakota, and it has been extremely cold everywhere.

PBR Livestock Director Cody Lambert expects the cold weather to break somewhat in time for the Chicago Invitational on Saturday.

“Chicago is looking up,” said Lambert. “It’s going to get warmer every day between now and Saturday. It was very cold in New York last week, and you can’t expect bulls to have their best day bucking under those conditions. It’s not the cold weather as much as it is how the bulls deal with it. They fight off the cold by eating and drinking. Just like humans, when they are full from all that food and water, they’re naturally going to be a little sluggish. There’s no way around it. They have to be fed more when the weather is cold.”

“When the contractors truck bulls from one place to another in cold weather like this, a lot of times they may take a more southerly route if they have the option,” Lambert continued. “They will line the trailer with plywood to keep the wind out, and just the bulls standing together on the trailer – their body heat will keep it warm inside.”

We’ll see some of the same bulls in Chicago that we saw in New York. Chad Berger will be bringing a load of bulls, which means we will see Smackdown, who was the highest-marked bull in the Windy City last year and in 2011.

Smackdown throws Joao Ricardo Vieira in 5.58 seconds earning a bull score of 46.25 points in the championship round of the 2013 PBR BFTS Ariat Invitational in Oakland, Calif. 

Smackdown turns 9 years old in April and he’s got 95 career outs to his credit already – 68 of those at the Built Ford Tough Series level. That is an exceptional career for a bucking bull, and Lambert says Smackdown is by no means done yet.

“He showed no signs of slowing down last season,” Lambert said. “He was as good as he’s ever been right up through the Finals. He’s one of the best bulls we’ve ever seen in the PBR. He may never be the World Champion Bull, but he belongs in the discussion every year. He’s still a championship round caliber bull that not everyone can ride – even at this level. Physically, he’s a freak. He doesn’t have the big muscular build you see on most bulls. He’s built like a giant cow, but he’s got a big heart and he never has an off-day. He’s a very special bull.”

Percolator and Altercation worked their way into the short round this week based on their performance in the long rounds in New York. Lambert said previously that Percolator might turn out to be one of the easier to ride bulls at Built Ford Tough Series events, but he did well last week.

“I still think he’s a little on the easy side” Lambert said. “I think he’s a great bull that’s worth a lot of points and that every rider will want to draw. He bucked two guys off in New York and made it look good. I think he’s the one to have in the championship round. Altercation was in Round 1 in New York, and he bucked plenty good to be in the championship round there, but I didn’t want to put too much pressure on him too fast because that bull has a problem acting up in the chute. He stood pretty good the first night in New York, so I thought I’d let him go until the last night in Chicago and we’ll see if he’s alright in there. He’s always been a good short-round type bull, but there have been a lot of re-rides on him because of his bad chute behavior.”

Valdiron de Oliveira puts up 87.75 points on Altercation in Round 2 of the 2012 PBR Pueblo Invitational in Pueblo, Colo.

The short-round format has changed for this season. Every short go will feature the Top 15 riders from the event as opposed to last year’s Top 10, plus the guys who had two ride scores. The biggest change this makes with regards to the bulls is that last year there were bulls being hauled to events but not being used there because there were not enough guys riding all their bulls to fill out the 10 to 15 spots in the short round.

“Last season there were a lot of events where the riders didn’t fill those extra spots,” Lambert said. “It ended up costing us use of some of the better bulls in the PBR, because we had to set those bulls aside for the short go and then no one was there to get on them. Going back to the old format, all the bulls hauled to an event will get an out unless they have a problem themselves, which is less common.”

Lambert’s job in theory is to set the bulls for each event so that they are tough enough to challenge the best riders in the world. If the bulls are too easy, it’s hard to tell who the best rider is. What Lambert hasn’t been doing is presenting much of a challenge to current World Champion J.B. Mauney, who has not bucked off a Built Ford Tough Series bull since last October. He’s ridden his last 15 in a row.

“I don’t think J.B. is on a streak,” Lambert said when asked what it would take to get Mauney on the ground. “I think that’s the way he rides now. He’s always been able to ride, and he’s always been a little streaky – partly because of injuries and partly because of distractions. But, I think he’s matured quite a bit, and I think even given the level of bulls we have here that we’ll continue to see him dominate the way he did for the second half of last season. He’s always reminded me a lot of Lane Frost when he’s riding, and he’s finally gotten to where he’s that good.”

Follow Slade Long on Twitter @ProBullStats