Byron Bayers has spent almost all of his 80 years involved with the Hereford breed. Bayers Hereford Ranch was established in 1918 and is the oldest continuous running Hereford herd in the state of Montana. The original herd was primarily polled and was gradually transitioned to horned cattle until polled Hereford influence was brought back in the late 1990s.

After graduating from the University of Montana in 1952, Bayers served as an officer in the United States Air Force before returning to the ranch in 1955 after he married his wife, Pauline.

He served as president of the Montana Hereford Association in 1958, 1960 and 1970 and was elected president of the AHA in 1976. Bayers Hereford Ranch was a member of the Montana Beef Performance Association and a charter member of the AHA’s Whole Herd TPR program.

In the ‘60s and early ’70s, he judged at almost almost every major Hereford show in the U.S. including the National Western Stock Show, the Chicago International, Fort Worth, Houston and Phoenix.

Bayers was given the University of Montana’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 1976 and was inducted into the Montana State Fair Pioneer Hall of Fame in 1981. In 2008 he received the Canadian Ambassador Award from the Canadian Hereford Association. In 1966 he and his family established Hereford America. The paper is currently mailed to every state and seven countries.