The oldest bull you've had that naturally serviced cows?

[WalnutCrest]

Just curious about others' experiences after I recently read in a French publication about a fullblood Aubrac bull we have in the tank (his semen was imported from France over a decade ago) who was still naturally servicing cows (I think the article said he was in with 18 cows and heifers) at 17 years of age.

 

[Bigfoot]

11 calf crops. Made him close to 13. Best calves I ever raised. I bought him from a neighbor because he jumped the fence every time we would send him home.

 

[midtncattle]

A buddy runs an 11 year old hereford over 30 cows.

 

[tamarack]

This is my pb shorthorn sire I used him for 9 years and sold to a friend who used him for two more and sold at sale he weighed 2400 and brought 80 cents lb darn near what I paid great bull

 

[OakCreekRanch]

This is my pb shorthorn sire I used him for 9 years and sold to a friend who used him for two more and sold at sale he weighed 2400 and brought 80 cents lb darn near what I paid great bull

Well he is sure hearty! :lol:

 

[Hereford76]

This is my pb shorthorn sire I used him for 9 years and sold to a friend who used him for two more and sold at sale he weighed 2400 and brought 80 cents lb darn near what I paid great bull

Looks like he loved you too

 

[tamarack]

Thanks he never threw any with his mark but lots of good bulls from red to roan and a few white

 

[Limomike]

11 yr old bull. He was a hell of a bull, and thats why I kept him around so long. Got rid of him last year as a matter of fact.

 

[bigbull338]

i never kept up with how old our bulls got tobe.but i know we kept some for 10 or 11yrs.

 

[brimmer X]

We had a V-8 brahma bull bought at 8 years of age. He was used for 3 years and sold back to the person we bought him from. We sold him back for $300 less than we paid. He kept him another 2 years. He said the younger bulls were roughing him up. One of the most gentle and easy loading bulls we've owned.

 

[wacocowboy]

I sale most of my bulls between 10-12 yrs old but they were still doing their job you could of used them for a few more years

 

[cow pollinater]

Just curious about others' experiences after I recently read in a French publication about a fullblood Aubrac bull we have in the tank (his semen was imported from France over a decade ago) who was still naturally servicing cows (I think the article said he was in with 18 cows and heifers) at 17 years of age.

There's a huge diferance between a purebred bull that is good enough to ship semen internationally and a bull that gets turned out to cover commercial cows. I can just about promise you that he wasn't turned out in country like most commercial bulls face and if he was being collected I can just about promise you that he was getting fed quite a bit better than most bulls.
I doubt if it would even be uncommon for some of the better bulls of any breed to still be able to cover a few cows at 17 if the conditions were right and had been for most of the bulls life. Those same bulls would be toast by nine years if they had to really go out and work for a living.
In fact, I know of a few Angus sires that have been collected way up into their teens and about the only reason they ever stopped collecting them was because anyone and everyone who wanted to use them already had and there was enough on hand to meet future demand so there was no longer any point in keeping outdated bulls around.

 

[WalnutCrest]

Just curious about others' experiences after I recently read in a French publication about a fullblood Aubrac bull we have in the tank (his semen was imported from France over a decade ago) who was still naturally servicing cows (I think the article said he was in with 18 cows and heifers) at 17 years of age.

There's a huge diferance between a purebred bull that is good enough to ship semen internationally and a bull that gets turned out to cover commercial cows.

You're right. The standards are higher for the former than the latter.

I can just about promise you that he wasn't turned out in country like most commercial bulls face and if he was being collected I can just about promise you that he was getting fed quite a bit better than most bulls.

Do you have any idea how the French Aubrac bulls are selected for international AI ... fed before during or after collection ... or used in the pasture for live cover after having been collected? You're making many assumptions that are not necessarily grounded in fact.

I doubt if it would even be uncommon for some of the better bulls of any breed to still be able to cover a few cows at 17 if the conditions were right and had been for most of the bulls life. Those same bulls would be toast by nine years if they had to really go out and work for a living.

In fact, I know of a few Angus sires that have been collected way up into their teens and about the only reason they ever stopped collecting them was because anyone and everyone who wanted to use them already had and there was enough on hand to meet future demand so there was no longer any point in keeping outdated bulls around.

The Aubrac region of France has almost no row crop, so feeding anything other than grass and hay is a little unusual. I would be surprised to learn he had any sort of fancy diet at any time in his life ... including while at the bull testing station, where they feed grass/hay/protein only ... no grains. As a result, I'm quite sure that the bull selection methodology in France is a bit different than it is for any US breed.

Lastly, this isn't a discussion of "how to feed an old bull to maintain fertility" or anything of the sort. It was nothing fancier than what the thread title lays out --- what's the oldest bull you've had who was still able to naturally service cows?

 

[polledbull]

BGRT Proper Choice was here until he was 14 years old , he bred a few cows every year , just lost him this past year. he was a HBHP Limousin

 

[cow pollinater]

You're right. The standards are higher for the former than the latter.

Yes, so is the level of maintenance.

Do you have any idea how the French Aubrac bulls are selected for international AI ... fed before during or after collection ... or used in the pasture for live cover after having been collected? You're making many assumptions that are not necessarily grounded in fact.

Not in particular but I do have a pretty good idea of where the semen quality had to be and what it takes to keep it at that level for a producing bull that's going to be imported and I doubt he did it on just grass while live covering cows.

I would be surprised to learn he had any sort of fancy diet at any time in his life ... including while at the bull testing station, where they feed grass/hay/protein only ... no grains. As a result, I'm quite sure that the bull selection methodology in France is a bit different than it is for any US breed.

That doesn't sound like you know.

Lastly, this isn't a discussion of "how to feed an old bull to maintain fertility" or anything of the sort. It was nothing fancier than what the thread title lays out --- what's the oldest bull you've had who was still able to naturally service cows?

Back to my original point. It depends a whole lot on how he's raised and how he's used. My dad had a limo back in the 80's that made it up into his mid teens but he was covering twenty head on flat ground with nowhere to travel to. Where my cows run now that same bull would be worn out by eight years old.

 

[Beef Man]

We used JE Lamp 422 untill he was 15. He started breeding cows as a yearling in rough prairie country. Never had any extra feed and stayed very sound in spite of his size. Don Hartland was used untill he was 11. Used a kernal son to 11 and he had been used in a large commercial herd. Have a lot of customers use their bulls for many years and makes me proud but is slow on business because they don't need bulls to often. Am sure that longivity is strengh'ed by how the bulls are developed.Grow naturally and easy on the hot feed.

 

[WalnutCrest]

CP --- you're wrong (in part) ... I do know how the yearling bulls are tested from the time they're purchased by the French breed association at 7-10 months of age, and through the entire five month test. You can read a little bit about it here ... http://www.race-aubrac.com/en/station/evaluation.php ... Now, once a bull is qualified for an AIA rating (i.e., they're certified for collection and export), which only 2-5 bulls per year achieve, these bulls remain on a forage only diet throughout the five month test. In the Aubrac region of France (it's not clear if the cattle were named for the region or the region was named for the cattle -- they've been there for that long), there is very very little row crop, and as a result, it is highly unusual for any Aubrac cattle to ever receive any sort of creep feed or grain at any point in their life; it's just not done. So, the part you're right about is that I don't know EXACTLY what Jaquot was fed every day of his life ... but, I do know that Aubrac breeders do not feed grain in any sort of routine or regular basis ... AND ... once a bull is collected for export, they're sold or placed back to their home herd to breed cows in their pastures. Would you call it a hard environment? I don't know --- their home is probably most closely related to the environment of the western slopes of the Rocky mountains -- so, if you'd call that easy going, then they have it easy going in France, too. :shrug:

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Now, back to the original topic ... I love hearing about these old men of the pastures, still out doing their jobs year in and year out. Thanks for sharing the stories.

 

[cow pollinater]

CP --- you're wrong (in part) ... I do know how the yearling bulls are tested from the time they're purchased by the French breed association at 7-10 months of age, and through the entire five month test. You can read a little bit about it here ... http://www.race-aubrac.com/en/station/evaluation.php ... Now, once a bull is qualified for an AIA rating (i.e., they're certified for collection and export), which only 2-5 bulls per year achieve, these bulls remain on a forage only diet throughout the five month test. In the Aubrac region of France (it's not clear if the cattle were named for the region or the region was named for the cattle -- they've been there for that long), there is very very little row crop, and as a result, it is highly unusual for any Aubrac cattle to ever receive any sort of creep feed or grain at any point in their life; it's just not done. So, the part you're right about is that I don't know EXACTLY what Jaquot was fed every day of his life ... but, I do know that Aubrac breeders do not feed grain in any sort of routine or regular basis ... AND ... once a bull is collected for export, they're sold or placed back to their home herd to breed cows in their pastures. Would you call it a hard environment? I don't know --- their home is probably most closely related to the environment of the western slopes of the Rocky mountains -- so, if you'd call that easy going, then they have it easy going in France, too. :shrug:

********************

Now, back to the original topic ... I love hearing about these old men of the pastures, still out doing their jobs year in and year out. Thanks for sharing the stories.

That's interesting. Thanks for the info. I wouldn't consider that rough country but it's still impressive.

I remember a holstein bull on a dairy that I worked on as a teenager that was still covering cows that was close to twenty by the herdsman's best guess. He'd been there longer than the current owner and had been raised on a bottle by the herdsman. He got so mean that nobody could do anything with him so they dumped him out with the cows and said they'd kill him when the cows quit showing up pregnant. He was still there when I left.

 

[WalnutCrest]

CP --- you're wrong (in part) ... I do know how the yearling bulls are tested from the time they're purchased by the French breed association at 7-10 months of age, and through the entire five month test. You can read a little bit about it here ... http://www.race-aubrac.com/en/station/evaluation.php ... Now, once a bull is qualified for an AIA rating (i.e., they're certified for collection and export), which only 2-5 bulls per year achieve, these bulls remain on a forage only diet throughout the five month test. In the Aubrac region of France (it's not clear if the cattle were named for the region or the region was named for the cattle -- they've been there for that long), there is very very little row crop, and as a result, it is highly unusual for any Aubrac cattle to ever receive any sort of creep feed or grain at any point in their life; it's just not done. So, the part you're right about is that I don't know EXACTLY what Jaquot was fed every day of his life ... but, I do know that Aubrac breeders do not feed grain in any sort of routine or regular basis ... AND ... once a bull is collected for export, they're sold or placed back to their home herd to breed cows in their pastures. Would you call it a hard environment? I don't know --- their home is probably most closely related to the environment of the western slopes of the Rocky mountains -- so, if you'd call that easy going, then they have it easy going in France, too. :shrug:

********************

Now, back to the original topic ... I love hearing about these old men of the pastures, still out doing their jobs year in and year out. Thanks for sharing the stories.

That's interesting. Thanks for the info. I wouldn't consider that rough country but it's still impressive.

To me, their bull selection criteria seemed sufficiently strict (and quite a bit more practical than other breed-wide bull selection measures I had come across) so that when I went to picking Aubracs, I thought I'd be pretty well assured of getting a unique repository of hardy grass-oriented genetics. Their maternal and palatability traits are well understood as well.

I remember a holstein bull on a dairy that I worked on as a teenager that was still covering cows that was close to twenty by the herdsman's best guess. He'd been there longer than the current owner and had been raised on a bottle by the herdsman. He got so mean that nobody could do anything with him so they dumped him out with the cows and said they'd kill him when the cows quit showing up pregnant. He was still there when I left.

Wow -- a 20-ish year old bull still out doing his job. Very cool.

 

[Aaron]

Oldest I've had is 7, but neighbor had one, traded several hands and was 14-15 when he finally died.

A lot depends on how they are kept. If in a group, older bulls will start getting picked on by the younger ones in the pen, and injuries usually rack up.

People who run just one bull have a lot higher success in keeping them going into their teens.