Century-old Bohnsack Ranch prepares for big rodeo this weekend – InForum

SHELDON, ND — Cowboy boots and hats are the recommended attire for those heading to the Bohnsack Ranch near Sheldon this weekend.

The historic ranch an hour southwest of Fargo is gearing up to host the annual Fall Rodeo and Boxing Matches on September 6-7.

Smack dab in the middle of the North Dakota Sandhills, on the edge of the Sheyenne National Grasslands, is a slice of North Dakota’s past and present. Horses still roam the famous farm.

Bonita Laske carries on her family’s legacy at Bohnsack Ranch. Her grandparents, Charles and Hulda, started the ranch in 1918. Bonita Laske’s mother, Freida, is responsible for the decades of rodeos that have been held here since then.

Both mother and daughter are in the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame.

“She wanted to be a cowgirl and run this farm, even though it was with six Holstein calves and a dilapidated barn and a big mortgage. A big mortgage,” Bonita said.

Contributed / Bohnsack Ranch

Cattle branding, cattle boarding and rodeos have become a way for Freida to make ends meet.

“What she did for the mortgage, to pay it off, was she got cattle. 550 cattle were here and so when I was growing up, there were rodeos every weekend,” Bonita said.

This weekend near Sheldon, there will not only be rodeo, but also boxing and wrestling. The Old Bohnsack Ranch will live as it did in the days of cowboys and campfires, with sights and sounds of the early pioneers who turned the scrub land into a working ranch for more than a century.

For more events at Bohnsack Ranch, visit their Facebook page.