DENVER, Colo. — Colyer Herefords came to the National Western Stock Show with 16 cattle in its show string.
First place ribbons were plentiful but the climax was winning grand champion polled and horned bulls at the show held in Denver from Jan. 7-22.
The polled bull, named C 1311 5280 Lad 6077 ET, was born Jan. 8, 2016, and its pedigree traces back to past champions raised at the Colyer ranch near Bruneau, Idaho.
This year’s winning bull’s dam is a full sister to the ranch’s record breaking bull C Miles McKee 2103 ET, which sold for $600,000 several years ago.
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That bull was the 2014 Denver grand champion and now resides in Texas.
Miles McKee’s sister has produced eight full siblings to this year’s champion. Three bulls were shown at the Denver pen show and three sisters will appear at the female show.
The family raises about 300 Herefords and 150 Angus. They believe in assessing their cattle with ultrasound, expected progeny differences and most recently, genomic testing.
“It sure enough is a tool we will use in the future,” said Kyle Colyer after the show.
The bull was a good physical specimen and on-farm tests showed a massive rib eye of 16.2 sq. inches with adequate marbling.
“Out of 200 bulls we scanned, he was the second highest,” he said.
Kyle works with his parents, Guy and Sherry, and grandparents, Ray and Bonnie. His two young children make up four generations on the ranch.
The grand champion horned Hereford was BR Belle Air 6011, a February 2016 bull.
The yearling, which is owned by Colyer Herefords, Bill King of Moriarty, New Mexico, Barber Ranches of Channing, Texas and the Belle Air Group of Channing, is already a money maker.
The Colyers bought a share in Belle Air last November and then sold a semen interest to Bill King in December. In that time, they have sold about $200,000 worth of semen on the horned youngster.
This bull has also been evaluated for a number of valuable traits.
“For a bull that has as much look, his numbers are phenomenal,” said Colyer.
They were looking for low birth weight and growth performance, and this bull appears to offer a complete package, he said.
