"We decided to add Angus to fit our commercial ranchers that were buying the two breeds anyway," Guy Colyer says. "The black-baldy is as popular as any cross in the country and it suits our environment really well." The Angus cattle merge well with the Herefords, and are similarily managed. Both breeds are noted for their hardiness, survival, ability to re-breed and give acceptable performance and carcass quality - even in the less-than-ideal conditions faced by many ranchers.

The Colyers base their breeding program on the commercial industry. The Angus cows run in homesteaded Owyhee Mountains. Yearling bulls go to grass without supplement each summer. Guy says, "I think that teaches them how to eat and utilize grass and they are better able to go out and work as two-year-olds."