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The Largest Privately Owned Hereford Newspaper in North America
The one that’s read “from cover to cover.” • Visit us on the web at: www.herefordamerica.com Vol. 25, No.1
Published by: Hereford America, Inc. • 13823 Beaver Creek Place • Reva, SD 57651 • Est. 1996
Editorial Comments... Jill Bayers Hotchkiss
As I look up at the volume number above, I can hardly believe it has been 25 years since we started Hereford America. Although our Jill Hotchkiss actual 25th anniversary issue isn’t until January, we were busy organizing and developing our company at this time 25 years ago. At the time I was doing the South Dakota Hereford Times newspaper and my dad, Byron Bayers, was doing the Montana Hereford News. We were interested in combining the two publications thereby having a bigger customer base and bigger readership. The two states touch but it seemed an odd combination without the surrounding states so we met with the state Hereford associations of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wyoming to see if they would have interest in a new Hereford publication that included advertising and information from their states. It was quite a process but we finally received support from these states and Hereford America was born. We appreciate the support of our core states and others who continue to support our efforts. We remain the largest privately-owned Hereford publication in North America. Our original corporation consisted of my parents, Byron and Pauline Bayers, my husband Marc and I. The four of us had some wonderful years traveling the United States and Canada, working together and building the newspaper. Sadly my (continued on page 8)
September 2021
Baumgarten Herefords From Farm Country to Cattle Country
by Ruth Wiechmann Belfield North Dakota rancher Rollie Baumgarten is a fourth generation registered Hereford breeder with an extensive family history in the state and with the breed. He and his wife Wendy, Isaiah and Ben, and his son Jake with fiancé
Savannah and their son Theodore, run about 250 mother cows and 50 to 60 replacement heifers every year. The Baumgarten family started farming in eastern North Dakota near Casselton in 1885. Another area farmer, Ben Hans, purchased his first registered
Herefords in 1914. When his daughter Gertrude married Richard Baumgarten in 1921, Ben gave the couple a dowry gift of 10 bred Hereford heifers. The family has owned and raised registered Herefords for 107 years. (continued on page 4)
Carmichael Herefords Generations of Quality Herefords
Birdseye view of the yearlings at Carmichael’s sale.
by Ruth Wiechmann Ranchers in western South Dakota and the surrounding area know that the Carmichael name stands for hard working cattle, real world cows, and they have been showing up to purchase the family’s horned Hereford bulls for over 50 years. Keith Carmichael wouldn’t have it any other way. “We’re coming up on our 53rd annual bull sale,” Keith said. “About half go to cross on black cattle but we do have a lot of Hereford customers; about half of our bulls end up going back on Hereford cows.” The family has been in the area for over 100 years, with Keith’s maternal grandparents, John and Gertrude Hartman homesteading in Perkins County in 1909. Keith’s paternal grandparents, Pete and Garnet Carmichael, moved to Perkins County in the early 1940s, bringing their family and a herd of Hereford cattle from Gregory, South Dakota. Pete Carmichael’s son James and his wife Dorothy introduced registered Herefords to the herd in the late 1950s with a (continued on page 12)
