Older Bulls?

[Pickles Dillman]

With all these questions about what age to start breeding with a young bull, I was wandering, what is the oldest bull ya'll would use? i.e. Would you use a 10 year old for example?

 

[Workinonit Farm]

A friend of mine once had a Brahma bull that finally died at the age of 17. He knew the age because he had bought him as a yearling. He used that bull for breeding until he died.

Have another friend who had a nice Hereford bull. He finally sold the bull when the bull was 14 years old.

I, personally, have not used older bulls but have no aversion to using a good older bull.

Katherine

 

[FarmGirl10]

It depends, as the cattle business changes a lot and often quickly, so the bulls genetics may be dated. If the ten year old bull would complement a herd of cows, why not.

 

[msscamp]

With all these questions about what age to start breeding with a young bull, I was wandering, what is the oldest bull ya'll would use? i.e. Would you use a 10 year old for example?

If he could deliver what I wanted for my herd, he was sound, tests came back clean, and the price was acceptable - absolutely!

 

[mnmtranching]

Not me. I don't like old bulls. 4 breeding seasons is maximum for me. No point keeping a bull longer. You have heifers from him, he should be very big. You can get a good kill price and replace him for a good yearling. :cowboy:

 

[Frankie]

With all these questions about what age to start breeding with a young bull, I was wandering, what is the oldest bull ya'll would use? i.e. Would you use a 10 year old for example?

The only problem with an older bull might be size. Our neighbor lost a heifer when a big bull tried to mount her wrong and damaged her back.

We use ten year old bulls pretty often in our AI program.

 

[Aaron]

We used a bull till 7 years of age. Should have kept him longer. We thought he wasn't breeding much of anything anymore, but he sure showed us the following spring. Was just getting to be more of a sly dog in the breeding department. :cowboy:

 

[braunvieh]

Why not? As long as he is sound, fertile and gets the job done. The longer you can use a bull, the more you got for your $$.

 

[KNERSIE]

Just from another perspective...

As bulls grow older and heavier they lose some of their athleticism meaning they'll put more weight on the cow or especially a heifer when breeding them. The more weight alone isn't the issue, but often the mounting is more clumsy than it used to be. If the heifer slips or lose her footing you can get serious injuries from hip injuries, back injuries to nerve damage.

If you potentially lose a heifer or 2 due to injury caused by using an older less athletic bull you would have been money ahead by replacing him if you haven't got another mature cowherd that you can use him on exclusively.

 

[mnmtranching]

A small pasture and a few cows an older bull will maybe be OK. A bull is in peak performance in his second and third breeding season. Getting heavy and lazy as he grows older, maybe only breeding at night or cloudy days. Increasing the chance of missing a cow and not wanting to wander to far from the shade and water.. Large pastures and 30 cows per bull. You would not want a bull over 5 years old, better to send them off after 3 breeding seasons.

 

[bigbull338]

the bull i have now will be 5 in may.an he is with 60 or more cows on 150acs.so he covers alot of ground.an he gets the cows bred.my mom says he will get to stay an die on the place.because he is gentle an easy going.

 

[Susie David]

Have a friend that always buys older bulls..well not slaughter old but the fellas that have used up their welcome and would have been breeding daughters the next go around. He claims that it's the best deal going...same genetics at half the cost. He has the herd to back up his ideas.
DMc

 

[mnmtranching]

The only thing I can come up with is, Must be easier going in the milder climates. I been involved in some good size commercial cattle operations. Ain't none of them would keep ANY bull around over 5 years old. AND I'll let it go at that. :cowboy: