Byron Bayers and Montana's Oldest Continuous Hereford Herd

Who Is Byron Bayers of Twin Bridges, Montana?

Byron Bayers spent his working life on the Hereford ranch his parents started, and he carried it from a regional breeder's operation to one with buyers across the country. The American Hereford Association's 2017 Hall of Fame profile describes the ranch near Twin Bridges as the oldest continuously operating Hereford herd in Montana. It also lists his offices: president of the Montana Hereford Association in 1958, 1960 and 1970, and president of the national association in 1976.

He graduated from the University of Montana in 1952, served as a U.S. Air Force officer, and returned to the ranch in 1955. A 2018 profile in the Madisonian adds that he led a radar station crew at Yaak, Montana, during the Cold War and flew his own airplanes for decades.

How the Bayers Ranch Began in 1918

The association's Century Breeder article says Art and Elizabeth Bayers established the ranch in 1918 at Lavina, Montana. Art started with polled Herefords bought from Henry Kuhlman of Nebraska, according to the Madisonian, and his son later crossed them into horned Herefords so the ranch raised both types.

In the early to mid-1930s the family moved to a ranch near Twin Bridges that had a three-story round barn. The Madisonian says Noah Armstrong built it in 1882 for the Doncaster Stable and Stud Farm, that Art bought the Doncaster Ranch in 1933, and that he restored the barn and converted it into a cattle barn for shows and sales. The association adds that the barn had been known for raising Spokane, Montana's only Kentucky Derby winner.

Selling Herefords from the Round Barn

Round Barn auctions sent Bayers cattle to 38 states. The association says buyers also came from Mexico, Canada, Hungary and Zimbabwe, and the Madisonian reports that the ranch produced more than 25,000 purebred Herefords. At its peak the operation reportedly spanned three Montana locations and 800 registered cattle.

In 1972, by the Madisonian's account, Byron sold a $50,000 bull, then the highest price paid for an auction bull. Several Bayers bulls went on to serve as foundation sires for other Hereford herds, a record that spread the ranch's breeding well beyond the Ruby Valley.

Leading the American Hereford Association

Byron served on the American Hereford Association board in the 1970s and was elected president in 1976. He judged major Hereford shows across the United States in the 1960s and early 1970s, and attended World Hereford Conferences in Canada and Uruguay. The association also notes that he served as a consultant in selecting Herefords in Hungary.

In 1997 he, his wife and their daughter and son-in-law formed the publication Hereford America. Honors came from several directions: the University of Montana Distinguished Alumni Award in 1976, the Montana State Fair Pioneer Hall of Fame in 1981, and the Canadian Hereford Association's Ambassador Award. Sources differ on that last year, giving 2008 and 2009.

Century Breeder, Dispersal and the Ranch Today

The 1990 dispersal was a major break. The Madisonian reports that Byron rebuilt a herd of about 100 cows, and that Ehlke Herefords of Townsend, Montana, bought that second herd in 2015. The association says he kept a few head and rebuilt again, and that the family still owned a small registered herd and a commercial Hereford herd as of its article.

In 2018 the association recognized the Bayers family as a Century Breeder for 100 years in the Hereford business, and a centennial celebration was held at the Round Barn on July 7 that year. The association's later article says Byron and his wife have both died; the sources read do not give a date.

Learn More About Hereford History

Byron Bayers entered the American Hereford Association Hall of Fame in 2017, honored on October 27 in Kansas City, Missouri. For related reading, farm.FM has more ranching history and a story about Hereford cattle in Montana.