2024 HDD Rodeo – Ward Trenching’s Plan Pays Off
Ward Trenching of LaGrange, Wyoming, came to the 2024 HDD Rodeo with a plan: Concentrate on accuracy over speed to minimize penalty minutes from adding to their overall score.
And that proved to be an HDD Rodeo-winning strategy!
The father-son duo of Joe and Brody Ward were crowned champions of the 2024 HDD Rodeo, held Sept. 25-27 in Independence, Missouri, outdistancing second-place finisher Tru-Tek Drilling by 20 minutes in overall time. The tandem was the final crew on the final day to compete and came away victorious in an intense and exciting drilling competition.
Using its Astec 3238 drill — one of two Astecs the company purchased in 2006 — as well as a Mag 9 Underground Magnetics locating system, Ward Trenching came out on top.
“I’m kind of the guy who plans, prepares and strategizes for weeks before I do anything,” Joe Ward says. “I actually found results from some of the first HDD Rodeos and I could see from them that it all boiled down to accuracy. The crews that were winning were nowhere near the fastest guys. So, I went to the Rodeo with the mindset that it doesn’t matter how long we take to drill the bore, we just need to have it perfect when we get to the end. And that paid off in the end.”
In the end, Ward Trenching took home more $100,000 in cash and prizes, all donated from HDD companies.
A Desire to Compete
“When I was telling people that we were going to the HDD Rodeo, people were thinking it’s just for bragging rights. They about fall down when we tell them what we won!” Joe says.
And it turns out that the Rodeo has been something of career goal for Joe, noting that as the last Rodeo wrapped in 2003, he felt like he was getting to the level of drilling that would allow him to compete at the event. So, when the 2024 HDD Rodeo was announced, he was intrigued and excited, to say the least.
“I remember the Rodeos of the late 1990s and early 2000s and by the time [we as a company] were getting to that level of drilling where we could compete, the Rodeos were over,” Joe says. “I’ve always wanted to come and do this.”
Ward Trenching is the epitome of a family-run business. Joe’s dad Robert handles the plowing side of the business, with Joe and Brody working the HDD side. Brody is new to HDD — he turned 18 in August and has less than 1,000 ft of boring under his belt.
But they were all in for the 2024 HDD Rodeo, traveling with their equipment the 630 miles to take in the competition, seminars and networking opportunities that the event provided. And talking drilling with other drillers was the icing on the cake, they say.
“We got to know quite a few of the drilling teams,” Joe says. “We made some great friends and found others who could listen to our drilling stories. We all speak the same language.”
About Ward Trenching
Ward Trenching is headquartered in LaGrange, about 60 miles north of Cheyenne, on the Nebraska/Wyoming state line. Ward Trenching is a family-owned and operated business that was started by Joe Ward’s grandfather, Bob, in 1968, doing trenching work.
Robert, later joined his father at the company and ultimately took over operation of Ward Trenching. The company made the pivot to HDD in 1998, when the fiber boom really took off. Joe joined the company after completing a two-year welding program to help his dad venture into this new technology and methodology.
“At that time, I just wanted to be a ranch-hand,” he says. “My parents talked me into going to school so I went for two years at a welding program… But Dad needed help with all the phone work he was doing so I decided to help him. That was during the summer of 1998, during the fiber boom and we couldn’t find anyone to do bores for us.”
So, Joe and his dad tentatively dipped their toes into HDD, learning as they were going, using a Vermeer 7×11. “There was a lot of trial and error,” Joe remembers. “David Morrison, who owns Morrison Communications in Denver had a Vermeer rig he was selling. He came up and did a road bore with us, showing us how to do it and use the rig and then he sold it to us.”
And they were off.
Ward Trenching Today
Today, Ward Trenching owns two Astec 2238 drills, purchased in 2006, as well as an American Augers DD6 and another custom-built rig. The company’s day-to-day work is comprised primarily of installing underground electric lines for High West Energy, a member-owned electric cooperative that serves consumers in Wyoming, Nebraska and Colorado.
“The [small-diameter] electric stuff is our bread and butter,” Joe says. “Most of our bores are 250-ft bores of 4- or 6-in. lines. The longest bore we have ever done is 2,150 ft.”
Joe says that the HDD work in his part of the United States mainly consists of companies building their fiber networks.
“There are drills running all over the place here doing the fiber work,” he says. “The power companies are putting more and more underground. As labor gets more expensive, HDD looks better to them all the time.”
HDD Rodeo and Utility Expo
Benjamin Media Inc., the publisher of Trenchless Technology and presenter of the HDD Rodeo, will host a scaled-down version of the HDD Rodeo at the 2025 Utility Expo in Louisville, Kentucky, October 7-9.
All six top crews from the 2024 HDD Rodeo are invited to compete once again to the title of top drill crew, before the huge and diverse utility construction audience of the Utility Expo.
And count Ward Trenching in on taking part.
“Yup, we are planning to be there to support this event,” Joe says.
Sharon M. Bueno is editor of Trenchless Technology.
