Circuit Finals Personnel
Bob Tallman
Announcer
Bob Tallman returns as the announcer for the Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo.
The Poolville, Texas man has called the action at the circuit finals every year except one since 2009.
His warm, personable approach to calling a rodeo has brought the action to millions of people in rodeo arenas across the U.S. and Canada.
He grew up a buckaroo in Nevada, cowboying on the family ranch, golfing, and rodeoing in high school and collegiately at Cal Poly State in San Luis Obispo, California.
He’s announced rodeos since 1969, telling stories about the sport and its athletes, and making fans feel like he’s their new best friend.
Tallman’s rodeo resume includes seventeen times as announcer of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo and eight times as PRCA Announcer of the Year. He’s been the voice of rodeo on radio and television, including ABC’s Wide World of Sports, FOX Sports, the Great American Cowboy, the Wrangler Network, and hundreds of television specials, videos and voice overs.
Bob was on the ground floor of creating the circuit system in 1975, and he believes in it. “I’m big on the circuit system. It’s a valuable piece of real estate. For the guys who have a ranch, a job, a family, and can’t rodeo fulltime, it gives them a chance to compete for a million dollars at the NFR Open.”
The Badlands Circuit Finals are special to him, he said. “I like the people up north. It’s old school rodeo with new school production.”
Garrison Allen
Announcer
Garrison Allen will call the action alongside Bob Tallman at his third Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo.
The Oelrichs, S.D. man grew up in Montana but has made South Dakota his home since marrying Alyssa Lockhart Allen in 2023.
Garrison got his start announcing slack at high school, college and amateur rodeos and became a protégé of Bob Tallman and Randy Corley in 2017.
Since then, he’s announced rodeos across the nation, including several in the Badlands Circuit: Deadwood and Rapid City, S.D., and Valley City, N.D., among others.
He’s honored to announce the Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo.
“It’s cool to do your home circuit. I get to do a few of the great shows in the Badlands Circuit, and I know a lot of the contestants, and it makes it fun for me.
In his spare time, Garrison loves to golf and hunt big game in South Dakota and Montana.
Denny Halstead
Rodeo Clown
Laughter abounds when Denny Halstead steps into the arena.
The Calgary, Alberta man has been selected to clown the Badlands Circuit Finals for the fourth time.
He was raised around rodeo and competed as a tie-down roper, but like many Canadians, grew up playing hockey and wanted to be a professional hockey player.
Denny was a firefighter in Calgary, and each year, the Calgary Police and Fire Departments hosted a charity rodeo for kids. One year, the rodeo clown backed out, and Denny said, “I’ll do it.”
For five years, he roped and clowned at the same rodeos. “I wasn’t a very good roper, so clowning paid my entry fees,” he laughed.
Then he decided to pursue it farther. As a firefighter, he worked four days on and four days off, which allowed him to work rodeos on the weekend.
“I decided I’d try it, and see what I could do,” he said. “Last year was my thirty-first year, so I’ve made a living at it,” he said.
He retired as a firefighter fifteen years ago.
He loves clowning.
“Everybody has a gift,” he said. “Mine is, I can make people laugh and smile. I love being in the arena. You never know who’s had a bad week and they laugh for two hours and feel better.”
He’s 65 years old with no plans to retire.
“I live by two things,” he said. “Tomorrow’s never promised, and age is only a number. And that’s true.”
Denny has won the Canadian Pro Rodeo Clown of the Year award ten times and has worked the NFR Open three times.
“Jersey Jake” Ostrum
Music Director
A new face sits behind the music controls at this year’s Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo.
“Jersey Jake” Ostrum is the 2025 music director for the circuit finals.
A New Jersey native, Jake has been spinning the tunes for rodeos since 2007. He works rodeos across the country, from Rodeo Rapid City to the Days of ’47 in Salt Lake City, and everywhere in between. When he’s home, he does the music for the Cowtown Rodeos, which takes place a few miles from his farm.
Jake’s music career began as a band member, playing in a cover band in New Jersey as the lead singer and guitar player. He later went to California, where he played in a band as the guitar and bass player.
As he goes about his everyday life, he’s always seeing situations and the music that could be played behind them. “I’ll see something and imagine a song playing to it,” he said. And he’s always taking in new ideas from other sports, making them adaptable to rodeo.
“That’s a big part of what we do, is keeping things fresh. You try to blend in new things.”
He loves trying new music on the rodeo crowd, but he loves the standbys, too. “I’m a huge fan of trying new stuff, but I’m also a huge fan of the tried-and-true music that everybody knows.”
Ostrum loves the friends he makes on the rodeo road. “My favorite part is the relationships you build. I’m truly blessed that I have become close to the committees. You’re treated like a friend, not a commodity. Everybody makes you feel like you’re part of something.”
Jake is married to Jessica; they have two sons: Austin and JJ.
Beau Schueth
Bullfighter
Beau Schueth will make his first appearance at the Badlands Circuit Finals this year, alongside circuit finals veteran Justin Ward.
The Douglas, Wyo. bullfighter grew up in Nebraska and loved watching bull riding. He rode steers in junior rodeos, but in high school, focused on sports. In college, he shifted back to rodeo.
Beau competed in the freestyle bullfighting for a while and finished as the BFO reserve world champion in 2018 and 2020. He now works as cowboy protection only, having given up the freestyle.
He’s honored to work the Badlands Circuit Finals.
“To be selected by the bull riders, that means the world to me,” he said. “We put a lot of hard work into this, and to have the bull riders trust you with their lives, and especially at the circuit finals, means the world.”
Schueth is married to Nikki; they have an eighteen-month-old son, Kasen.
Justin Ward
Bullfighter
For the sixth consecutive year, Justin Ward has been chosen as a bullfighter for the Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo.
The Richardton, N.D. man grew up in Mabel, Minn., bouncing around the living room on a bouncy-horse as he watched rodeo on television. He competed in college rodeo in the steer wrestling and team roping at Dickinson (N.D.) State University, graduating in 2018 with a degree in ag business.
Ward got his start as a bullfighter when at a rodeo in Illinois, when the bullfighter didn’t show up. He was asked to fight bulls, so he tried it. “I really liked it,” he said. “That was the spark” that started his career.
He shoes and trains horses and has a custom leather shop. “I’m always moving.”
He and his wife Claree have twins: a soy, Roy, and a daughter, Ryatt.
Troy Crowser
Pickup Man
Troy Crowser has gone from one side of the fence, to the other.
The Mud Butte, S.D. man used to ride saddle broncs at the Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo. Now he’s been selected to pick up at the finals.
A native of Whitewood, S.D., Troy rode saddle broncs professionally for nine years, retiring in 2018. He began picking up for Rorey Lemmel’s buck outs, and a year later, he was being hired to work rodeos.
During his rodeo competition days, Crowser, who has trained horses for years, would sell a nice one in the spring, so “I had money in the bank to rodeo on,” he said.
He still sells some, but now he’s keeping them for his job as pickup man.
“I keep my really good ones,” he said. “It takes a long time to make a pickup horse. They have to be very, very broke, then seasoned. With the bigger rodeos, with fireworks and loud noises, you have to have a really good one to handle that.”
Crowser and his wife Gabriel have a herd of 30 brood mares, selling weanlings and performance horses as U Bar Bar Performance Horses. They also have a cattle herd.
He loves picking up, because it allows him to stay involved in the sport.
“This way, I can still rodeo, but stay in one location for several days, and stay close to home.”
Crowser qualified for the Badlands Circuit Finals six times (2011-2016) and won the circuit finals in 2012.
He and Gabriel have two sons: Tryatt and Trulyn.
Ryan Hanna
Pickup Man
Ryan Hanna returns to work as a pickup man alongside Troy Crowser at the Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo for the fourth time.
The Berthold, N.D. man is following in the footsteps of his dad, Dennis Hanna, and his uncle, Lynn Meyer, who worked as pickup men in the 1970s-80s.
Hanna steer wrestled at the Badlands Circuit Finals six times, winning the finals in 2002 and 2003 and the Ram National Circuit Finals in 2006. He retired from rodeo, then, a few years later, got started picking up, when Russell Kling offered him a job.
From there, his rodeo schedule “went crazy. Everybody in the northern part of the world has been awful good to me.”
Hanna farms and ranches with his uncle, raising cattle, wheat and canola.
He and his wife Susan have two children: son Hayes, who sometimes picks up with his dad, and daughter Maysa.
Val Lundquist | Gary, SD
Secretary
Rowena Nelson | Minot, ND
Assistant Secretary
Becky Binstock | South Heart, ND
Timer
Brandee Moore | Karlsruhe, ND
Timer
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