‘We love our animals,’ says RAM Rodeo Tour President Ross Millar

Ross Millar has been organizing rodeos for close to 30 years and is quite familiar with animal rights activists showing up to events.

He is the president of the RAM Rodeo Tour, a travelling circuit with 18 stops on its 2024 schedule. One of those stops occurred at Montasola Farms on Stevensville Road from August 2 to 5.

Fort Erie Radio attended Saturday and Sunday and no protestors were seen either time.

In an interview Sunday, Millar told Fort Erie Radio that often people who protest at events “don’t know” the care that the involved animals are given.

He also claims that on many occasions protestors have been invited to come onto the event grounds to get an up-close look but have turned down the offer.

“They don’t want any part of it,” Millar said.

He said his organization has an “open-book policy” with SPCAs and humane societies, and that his group has also provided expertise to those agencies on what their officers should be looking for when doing inspections, which also occur regularly.

“They can come any time and we work with them,” he said. “In 27 years, we’ve never had a citation. We love our animals.”

Millar spoke to Fort Erie Radio while fans watched a cattle-sorting event, where horse riders herd cattle from one fenced area to another.

“I hope the cowboy does well but I hope the horse does better,” he said in reference to his own horse taking part.

The rodeo tour hands out about $300,000 in prize money all summer and at this weekend’s event–which had about 140 riders–an estimated $2,000 was up for grabs in various categories.

Millar estimated that more than 1,000 people attended Saturday and Sunday, even though it rained most of Saturday.

Riders participating were from Ontario, Quebec, and parts of the U.S.

He said Montasola Farms is a “great location” that can draw on tourists in the area for the weekend, and that locals were welcoming.

“Everyone we’ve met from the community is really positive,” he said.

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