This weekend at the 2020 PBR Australia Grand Finals we will farewell a bucking legend as Slam n Jam takes his final trips under the bright lights.
Since making his debut at Cairns in 2015, this grandson of Just Dandy has had 45 outs in PBR Australia competition and has been ridden just six times for an average ride score of 85.29 points.
2017 PBR Australia Stock Contractors of the Year Brandenburg Bucking Bulls have hauled the George Hempenstall bred bucker to perform at events as far away from their North Queensland base as the Northern Territory and Victoria.
“Slam n Jam really has the most honest nature you could ask for in a beast,” says Dakota Brandenburg.
“He’s a pleasure to be around, loves all the attention and scratches, but he will still remind you who’s boss!”
The nine-year-old son of Buster KK6 has put together an ultra-consistent career, averaging a bull score of 42.78 points with the unsuccessful riders dislodged at an average of 3.47 seconds.
His highest bull score recorded in PBR Australia competition came at the 2017 Dirt n Dust Festival PBR where the judges awarded him a massive score of 46-points after he bucked off Roy Dunn in 2.22 seconds. A year earlier in the same arena at Julia Creek, the judges marked him 45-points as he defeated Cody Heffernan in 3.2 seconds during his championship year.
2015 PBR Australian National Champion Fraser Babbington owns three of the six qualified rides aboard Slam n Jam from just four attempts. The Kiwi bull rider’s highest score of 87-points was awarded inside Rockhampton’s Great Western Hotel during the 2016 season.
“He’s a pretty wriggly little guy, he doesn’t stand real high but has a few little tricks up his sleeve,” said Brandenburg when asked what made Slam n Jam so challenging to get by.
“He often scoots down and leaps in the air and turns back with some wild move thrown in.”
Beginning at the 2016 Iron Cowboy event in Townsville, Slam N Jam commenced an extraordinary run of 25 straight buck offs with some of the most recognisable cowboys in Australian bull riding featured on the list.
” He wasn’t one for doing the same thing twice!” she added.
The streak was broken at the 2019 Grand Finals when Brazilian Eduardo Aparecido made the whistle in Round 4 for 86.5 points and a top-4 finish.
When Mitch James decided to enter the bucking bull industry and establish MJ Bucking Bulls, he knew that Slam n Jam would be the perfect bull and acquired him midway through the 2019 season.
”We wanted a bull that had some character and one that could help us to understand the game,” said James.
“Slam n Jam is not only an outstanding bucking bull but also an excellent advocate for the PBR. Kids can sit on his back, you can pat him, and really engage with him, and that’s the type of bull I wanted around my family.”
“He has such a huge following because he’s a great little bull and has a massive heart. He has also bucked off some of the best riders in the world,” James beamed about the instantly recognisable white speckle bull.
Slam n Jam’s bucking career may end this weekend, but James hopes his next phase as a contributor to the MJ Bucking Bulls breeding program leads to the next great bull in his pen.
“He is backed by some great genetics and goes back to Just Dandy,” said James. “He is a fighter, and he has a great personality”.
“We have three calves on the ground from him, and two of those, Money for Jam and Gangsta Jam have a very similar temperament. They come up to you, and you can give them a rub on the head,” he explained.
“So, if he can continue to pass that trait onto his future progeny, that is all we can ask.”
“He is like one of the family. We love that little bull,” proclaimed James, “and we are really proud to own him.”