BY KATELYN KOHLBECK MT
C SHR 2111 Tohono 4130 A Bull With a Purpose Beyond the Showring
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ome cattle make an impression long before they ever step into a showring. For C SHR 2111 Tohono 4130, that story began in the fall of 2023, on a herd tour at Colyer Herefords in Bruneau, Idaho. While traveling through the pastures with Kyle Colyer, looking at potential future donor prospects, one particular bred heifer caught our attention. Not even entered in the sale, she stood out immediately. Powerful, stout, beautifully fronted, and exceptionally sound, she was also backed by an outstanding set of CHB numbers. She possessed the kind of phenotype and genetic profile we value and strive to build into our program. When Kyle explained that the heifer, 1288, was bred to Cuda Belle 2111 and likely carrying a bull calf, little did we know how significant that conversation would become. That bull calf would eventually become Tohono. His name was chosen with purpose. Deep-rooted in the Sonoran Desert for centuries, the descendants of the Hohokam, known as the Tohono O’odham, are recognized for their agricultural heritage and deep connection to
the land. “Tohono,” meaning “desert people,” represents more than a place or a people. It reflects a way of life built around agriculture, shared knowledge, cooperation, and community. As we look at what this bull has come to mean to so many people, the name couldn’t be more fitting. From the very beginning, Tohono has brought people together, connecting families, friends, and fellow cattlemen and women from across the country and beyond through one common passion: Hereford cattle. After following his development, we had the opportunity to purchase him as Lot 51 in the Colyer Herefords Annual Bull Sale. Our goal was straightforward: find a bull that combined the kind of functional, attractive cattle we believe in with an exceptional set of genetic numbers. Tohono checked those boxes. He wasn’t necessarily the obvious sale feature or the highest-profile bull in the offering. Instead, he represented something we admired deeply: the consistency, quality, and genetic direction of the Colyer program. We brought him home, collected him, and turned him out to breed our heifers. In August 2025, after pulling him from the heifer pasture, we began to recognize that there might be something special waiting to happen. We asked our crew to help put a halter on him, initially with the simple intention of getting him broke enough for a picture.
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