Lester Schafer, Buffalo Lake, MN, and Byron Bayers, Twin Bridges, MT, were inducted into the Hereford Hall of Fame Oct. 27 in Kansas City, MO, during the American Hereford Association (AHA) Annual Meeting and Conference.
The Hall of Fame honor annually recognizes breeders who have dynamically influenced the direction and advancement of the Hereford breed.
Schafer was raised on the farm where he currently resides. The registered Hereford herd Schafer runs was originally started by his aunt and uncle in 1917. The farm received Century Farm status in 2000. He purchased a scale and began collecting weaning weights on calves in 1960. When the AHA established the Whole Herd Total Performance Records (TPR) program a few years later, Schafer was one of the first to sign up.
Throughout the years, he has remained active in the Minnesota Hereford Association, Minnesota Hereford Breeders and the Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Association. Schafer served as the secretary for the Minnesota Hereford Association for 25 years and has been inducted into the Minnesota Hereford Breeders Hall of Fame and the Minnesota Livestock Hall of Fame. Schafer also received the Century Breeder award for 100 years in the Hereford business at the Hereford Honorees Reception.
Bayers runs Bayers Hereford Ranch, the oldest continuous running Hereford herd in the state of Montana. 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.
He served as president of the Montana Hereford Association in 1958, 1960 and 1970, and was elected president of the AHA in 1976. In the 1960s and early 1970s, he judged at almost every major Hereford show in the U.S. including the National Western Stock Show, 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, Byron received the Canadian Ambassador Award from the Canadian Hereford Association.
“We congratulate both of these men for the impact they have made on the Hereford breed,” said Jack Ward, AHA chief executive officer. “Their dedication to the breed is inspiring and I am honored to induct them into the Hereford Hall of Fame.” — AHA
