How long you keep them bulls

[aplusmnt]

How many years do you usually keep your herd bull, if inbreeding is not an issue? Say on a terminal bull.

Average age before you replace him?

Oldest bull you kept on the place?

 

[novatech]

Semen for AI lasts forever.
But my neighbor just took his out of service at 14 years. Brahman. He was still getting the job done but was at the point of stepping on himself (sheath) and arthritis.

 

[angus9259]

I'd get a breeding soundness exam done every year before breeding - they're pretty cheap. But otherwise, I'd keep him as long as he was doing his job.

 

[grannysoo]

Inbreeding or Linebreeding (whatever you want to call it) is an issue for me due to retention of heifers, so we use one for 2 years or so and then it goes...

We do however swap/share with my brother, so both of us get the use out of the bull. Between us both, it's probably 5 years that we keep one.

 

[bigbull338]

your asking a tricky q.i used to keep the bulls till they was 7 or 8.but that was when we was running just a comm herd.but with the reg beefmasters.ill try to change bulls every 2 or 3yrs.the calvews wont get double bred because im switching over to 2 bulls.1 for comm cows.an 1 for reg cows.an can switch bulls tween herds.

 

[houstoncutter]

4 to 6 years on average> Did keep one bull until he was 12 years of age, but he was a very special curve bending bull

 

[houstoncutter]

4 to 6 years on average> Did keep one bull until he was 12 years of age, but he was a very special curve bending bull

 

[Aaron]

The longest we kept a bull was 8 years. The last year he only bred a fraction of the ones he was exposed to, so we sold him mid-season. He was a special bull as well, made a lot of dandy females and good strings of steers for us. Typically, we keep the bull as long as we like what he produces and doesn't have any problems. We keep some bulls for only one season, some for 2-3 years and some for 5 years. I like both of our bulls we have now, and if their progeny impress us as well, then it could be very likely they may die on the farm. Herd building/improving bulls are hard to find. :cboy:

 

[Horticattleman]

I keep mine for 90 days and off he goes. Always sell him for what I paid or more and I can run one extra momma and get one extra calf. I know that once I see his calves and they are good, he is gone, but if they are crappy and I still got him, then I wasted alot of pasture and feed. To each his own and it works for me. i try to buy the best one I can afford and try to anticipate his calves.

 

[randiliana]

We keep them as long as we like their calves, they are doing their job, and they are easy to handle. So far our oldest bull was 7 years old. Would have kept him longer but he got to the point you couldn't handle him. Most of our bulls are gone between 5-6 years old. We do BSE on them every spring.

 

[aplusmnt]

I keep mine for 90 days and off he goes. Always sell him for what I paid or more and I can run one extra momma and get one extra calf. I know that once I see his calves and they are good, he is gone, but if they are crappy and I still got him, then I wasted alot of pasture and feed. To each his own and it works for me. i try to buy the best one I can afford and try to anticipate his calves.

I like your way. If I ever get calving season grouped right I may follow your example.

 

[Caustic Burno]

How many years do you usually keep your herd bull, if inbreeding is not an issue? Say on a terminal bull.

Average age before you replace him?

Oldest bull you kept on the place?

No less than five years have had them at ten as well with no problems.
Usually what gets a bull a ticket out of here is attitude most not all get worse with age.
In my experience if he he going to show his ass it will be by the time he is four, this seems to be the teenage boy years of being invincible and I can whip anything for miles around.
Best bull I ever owned at 7 decided he wanted to get after the grandkids one day and I was fighting him with the tractor, he went straight to the salebarn.

 

[Horticattleman]

Best bull I ever owned at 7 decided he wanted to get after the grandkids one day and I was fighting him with the tractor, he went straight to the salebarn.

Thems fighting words there!

Thats why I usually buy a young (2 year old) bull because typically his attitude is at its best, he's smaller framed and just overall less to deal with. I usually pick one from the same breeder and usually pass him on to the same guy, so its pretty easy.