It’s that time of the year again for horse riders and horse lovers to gear up for the 2006 season of Nebraska Cattlemen’s Team Penning.

This year’s season will kick off May 6 with a social at the Roger Williams farm near St. Paul to get to know this year’s new riders. Penning rounds will start at 4 p.m., with a barbecue meal to follow.

Team penning is a three-man, calf-herding sport done on horseback. Because you must change teams for each ride, you don’t need your own three-person team. Competition is open to all ages, in amateur and professional categories. Professionals are generally those riders who pen cattle for a living at a cattle operation.

You have to be a member of NC to take part in the competition, but one-day memberships are available at each event (except the State Fair).

During each timed competition, a team of horsemen has two minutes to pen three select calves from a group of 21.

Every year, NC Team Penning plans special events on Memorial Day weekend and July 4. A special penning competition will be held Friday, June 2, in Seward as part of the Cattlemen’s Ball, which is June 3 in Milford.  The annual Eppley Cancer Benefit is July 2 at David City.

Some of the other competitions already scheduled include May 27 at St. Paul, July 4 at Hebron and Sept. 2 at Carlton. Perhaps a dozen or so more NC Team Penning competitions are planned throughout the summer, with the state finals tentatively scheduled for Sept. 16 at Grand Island.

““We would like to encourage anyone to bring forward any suggestions on how we can make this season even better than the last,” says coordinator Jenny Koziol of Fullerton.  Call (308) 536-2523 or e-mail kkoziol@hamilton.net.