MRRherefords
Well-known member
Just curious. At what age does everyone decide to get rid of their herd bulls? For example; if you have an 11 or 12 year old bull that is still breeding well with good feet, would you cull or keep?
Age of herd bull
- Thread starter MRRherefords
- Start date
Caustic Burno
Well-known member
MRRherefords":360hxdam said:
I have one that is 10 still doing his job.
Don't mind buying a new bull, I hate bull shopping on top of that your hoping you get lucky and get one as good as what you have.
Nesikep
Well-known member
If my herd was bigger and inbreeding wasn't a big problem, I'd keep them longer.. so far the oldest was about 8 years old... If they're doing their job, behaving, and you like the calves.. why change?
WalnutCrest
Well-known member
Nesikep":3d2p2g6l said:
This is probably the answer for the majority of producers.
Stocker Steve
Well-known member
MRRherefords":4l4m4kdb said:
It's not an age problem for small pasture operations. Usually injury or attitude or less than perfect calves are the issue. The last bulls I shipped were for:
- throws lots of white and not heifer safe
- foot problem
- timid
- leggy average growth calve
-
townfarmer
Well-known member
Question rather than a comment on this topic:
Does keeping a bull til 11 or 12 have a big effect on the salvage slaughter price compared to a 6 or 7 year old? I recently saw a sound 12 year old bull but he was pretty light due to his teeth being worn down to pretty much nothing.
Hanging onto a bull is not an option for us due to small number of cows but mainly due to the fact we don't live on the property and we aren't there to take responsibility for a mature bull's bad behaviour. We only use yearling bulls that we sell once cows are bred.
Andrew
Does keeping a bull til 11 or 12 have a big effect on the salvage slaughter price compared to a 6 or 7 year old? I recently saw a sound 12 year old bull but he was pretty light due to his teeth being worn down to pretty much nothing.
Hanging onto a bull is not an option for us due to small number of cows but mainly due to the fact we don't live on the property and we aren't there to take responsibility for a mature bull's bad behaviour. We only use yearling bulls that we sell once cows are bred.
Andrew
If we had a bigger herd we'd keep ours longer but we usually can only get about 4 breeding seasons from a bull before we have too many daughters or close relation to him. The nice thing though is we usually don't have trouble marketing a 4 or 5 year old bull as there are guys out there who like to buy bulls around that age and now they have the benefit of seeing what his calves and daughters look like too.
farmerjan
Well-known member
We are fortunate that we can keep bulls as long as we want. We also have several and different places to move cattle to in the summer so can control in-breeding or line breeding. We sold an old bull that had gotten everyone settled that year but his arthritis made getting up and down painful in his previously broken hind leg. I think Bubba was 12 or 13 at least. We knew that the winter would not be kind to him.
If we like the calves we keep him as long as he is fertile, doesn't want to roam, doesn't start tearing up fences, and doesn't get an attitude.
We have had a couple of young bulls that quickly got attitudes and 2 we have now have actually mellowed as they have gotten some age. One was on the list to go and then we like the calves so much decided to get "one more time" out of him. He settled down and we still have him and have kept several heifers this last year.
We are able to buy and keep easy calving bulls to use on the heifers, so we can switch them back and forth to not breed heifers back to their sires. We have 2 bulls we only use on cows as the calves are bigger at birth.
We don't see a discount on older bulls unless they get thin. Most of our older bulls get so big that we worry a little about their size on the cows. The 13-1500 lb bulls often will go back to a farm for breeding unless they show an attitude in the ring. The 1800 + ones go to slaughter so that they will bring decent money unless they are thin.
When the bulls get done with their group of cows they come back to the main farm and go together in the bull lot. There is usually a little pushing but seldom have even more than a head butt or two and in 5 minutes they just go about their business.
If we like the calves we keep him as long as he is fertile, doesn't want to roam, doesn't start tearing up fences, and doesn't get an attitude.
We have had a couple of young bulls that quickly got attitudes and 2 we have now have actually mellowed as they have gotten some age. One was on the list to go and then we like the calves so much decided to get "one more time" out of him. He settled down and we still have him and have kept several heifers this last year.
We are able to buy and keep easy calving bulls to use on the heifers, so we can switch them back and forth to not breed heifers back to their sires. We have 2 bulls we only use on cows as the calves are bigger at birth.
We don't see a discount on older bulls unless they get thin. Most of our older bulls get so big that we worry a little about their size on the cows. The 13-1500 lb bulls often will go back to a farm for breeding unless they show an attitude in the ring. The 1800 + ones go to slaughter so that they will bring decent money unless they are thin.
When the bulls get done with their group of cows they come back to the main farm and go together in the bull lot. There is usually a little pushing but seldom have even more than a head butt or two and in 5 minutes they just go about their business.
Lucky_P
Well-known member
Long-term studies by the bovine repro folks shows that - on average - after age 7, bulls' fertility takes a precipitous drop.
If you're doing a BSE prior to each breeding season to assess his fitness at that time, you'd be well-served, but not totally protected.
Last one we had, we kept til he was 10... after the first couple of years, he was pretty much only doing cleanup behind AI... but he had great disposition, and his daughters were nice, and we're a commercial herd producing stocker calves, so the occasional sire/daughter or sire/granddaughter mating was no issue... until he turned out to be the apparent founder of the latest recognized Angus genetic defect... and we had daughters/granddaughters/great-granddaughters comprising well over half the herd... requiring a lot of testing to ferret out the 'carriers'...not to mention 9-10 dead calves over a 4-5 year period, and premature culling of their dams.
If you're doing a BSE prior to each breeding season to assess his fitness at that time, you'd be well-served, but not totally protected.
Last one we had, we kept til he was 10... after the first couple of years, he was pretty much only doing cleanup behind AI... but he had great disposition, and his daughters were nice, and we're a commercial herd producing stocker calves, so the occasional sire/daughter or sire/granddaughter mating was no issue... until he turned out to be the apparent founder of the latest recognized Angus genetic defect... and we had daughters/granddaughters/great-granddaughters comprising well over half the herd... requiring a lot of testing to ferret out the 'carriers'...not to mention 9-10 dead calves over a 4-5 year period, and premature culling of their dams.
MRRherefords
Well-known member
This isn't my case, but if you had a bull that was 9-10 years old and still breeding cows well but you want new blood, do you sent him to the slaughter house or sell him to another breeder?
Very few breeders will buy a 9 - 10 year old cow. And at least in KS non-virgin bulls or bulls greater than 18 months of age
must be tested for trichomoniasis and certified negative within 60 days prior to change of possession or ownership or
sold for slaughter. Oldest bull we ever kept was 8.
must be tested for trichomoniasis and certified negative within 60 days prior to change of possession or ownership or
sold for slaughter. Oldest bull we ever kept was 8.
True Grit Farms
Well-known member
Boy we all look at things differently in the cattle business. I trade bulls out every other year at least. My cows are giving me the same genetics with every calf, the only way my herd can improve is by changing the bull. And the newer bulls have far less known defects compared to the older bulls. You guy's must really have some quality cattle to keep a bull for 10 years.
Boot Jack Bulls
Well-known member
Boot Jack Bulls
Well-known member
He's one of the few I have honestly never put a price on....I just wouldn't know how to value him (other than by the straw of course!)... 
Last edited by a moderator:
He's one of the few I have honestly never put a price on....I just wouldn't know how to value him (other than by the straw of course!)... [/quote]
He's a doozy.
[/quote]He's a doozy.
True Grit Farms
Well-known member
I was under the impression that folks kept old bulls for eye candy, and still am. I haven't sold a 8 year old calf yet, to me what the animal looks like at 18 months is where the money's at.
True Grit Farms":3evpvbmn said:
And I'd bet my bottom dollar that this bull's calves are market toppers at all stages of development.
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