Oka Lusa Rodeo Stock may be a small, family-run operation on a tight budget, but they’re building a big reputation. Paul and Gail Sparks don’t necessarily want to be one of the “big boys”—they just want to play in the same arena.

Paul Sparks has spent most of his life around rodeo. He first started in the industry when he was 13 and came up fighting bulls on the circuit. He met Gail, his wife of 42 years, at a rodeo and married her five months later.

Sparks started raising bulls back in the ‘70s but had to sell out and go to work in the oil fields. “The bull business wasn’t very good then and it was all my wife and I could do to make ends meet,” remembers Paul. “But an old stock contractor that I was fighting bulls for told me that raising bulls would be the thing of the future, and I never forgot that.”

Working in the oil fields paid the bills, but Paul had a passion for rodeo and wanted to get involved in the industry again. One day he and Gail talked it over and together they decided the time was right to start breeding and raising bucking bulls again. Thus, Oka Lusa Rodeo Stock was created.

In the beginning, Paul concentrated mostly on acquiring females, and in 2000 he partnered with the Klein Bros. on some breeding stock.

“I had bought some cows from Derrel Hargis, Benny Beutler and a few others and Errol (Klein) had bought Wardance as a 4-year-old from Tyler Fowler,” stated Sparks. “We started breeding and then we brought in more breeding stock, and started culling to get what we wanted in a bucking bull.

“We breed our cows to the best of Klein Bros. bucking bulls and when the bull calves are 3 we sell them to Klein Bros. Pro Rodeo and they start bucking them. This works out well for us because we can use the best of Klein’s bulls to breed our cows.”

Utilizing the best Klein bulls to breed to their cows has worked out very well for Oka Lusa.

“I would say our greatest accomplishment to date has been breeding to Smokeless Wardance who was PRCA Bull of the Year and runner-up PBR Bull of the Year. He is now being hauled by Broken Arrow Rodeo Co.,” shared Paul.

“Two of Wardance’s sons, K50 War Paint and K53 War Chief, which we raised and are now owned by Klein Brothers, were short round bulls at Cheyenne this year along with their sire. It was like a bucking bull family reunion at Cheyenne.”

The following week, both War Chief and War Paint were chosen for the short round in Dodge City. “To raise bulls of this caliber took a lot of hard work but it sure paid off,” admitted Paul.

Although Oka Lusa continues to build its breeding program primarily on the bloodlines of proven producer Smokeless Wardance (previously owned by Klein Bros.), the Sparks now have decided to mix things up a bit.

“We are outcrossing to K586 Air Choctaw who is a son of 54 Up In Smoke, a grandson of Gunslinger,” acknowledged Paul. “Some of the other outcross bulls are K514 Mud Bone, a Mossy Oak Mudslinger son who is another Cheyenne short round bull, and K35 who is a A13 Trick or Treat son.”

Oka Lusa, located near Cushing, Texas in Nacogdoches County, has now grown into a family business. “Our youngest daughter Tiffany became interested so I gave her a set of heifers off Wardance and now she and her son Clifton are involved,” shared Paul.

“We also have another grandson, Dillon, who is 11 years old and getting interested. He made the trip with us to Cheyenne and Dodge City and helped feed and work stock in the back pens.” Having their entire family involved in the business keeps the Sparks close and gives them a common goal to work toward.

The Sparks have started out small. “At present we are running 25 mother cows with calves and about 25 bulls from 1 to 3 years old, plus we’ve got some breeding bulls,” stated Paul. But they continue to outcross to various bloodlines and expand their herd. The goal is to keep working on and improving the quality of the their bulls and eventually have one of the grandsons take over.

“We don’t have a lot of money and don’t aspire to be one of the “big boys,” reiterated Paul. “We just want our reputation to be that we raise buckers and good ones at that. We’d also like to make a little money at the sport that I have been involved with since I was 13 years old.”

With solid buckers like War Chief and War Paint, it’s clear that, despite their small size, Oka Lusa has already built a big reputation for themselves—one bucker at a time.