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Longevity Percentage

N

Northern Rancher

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 10, 2005
Messages
12,247
Location
saskatchewan
I was wandering through the cows today and I came upon a GT max daughter with her calf-he was definately not a consistent cowmaker but this particular cow is 16 and raising her 14th calf the other one we have left is 10 and still raising a big skinny calf every year they are born slick spend a sunmmer with her getting shade and companionship but not much milk but catch back up on grass. So the bull did leave the odd good female you just needed to go through alot to find them. The Pioneer 701 of EAR bull was probably the best at keeping daughters around-I synched a 100 cows to him at a friends years ago-not sure what the breedup was but when he sold his cows out he had 25 eight year old Pionerr daughters so not many had left. The old 8020 Hereford bull is another bull that they tend to stay around. A bull that never got used too heavy up north was Nichols Landmark L56 but they stuck around to be aged culled most times-the few outfits that had used had daughters in their midteens. I had a son of him that I pulled the dumbest trade in the cattle business-used him clean up as a yearling and then sold him for $300 more than I paid for him-thought I'd cut a pretty fat hog. He turned into a stud-I managed to buy a half dozen heifer calves back from the outfit and they were great cows-sold alot of bulls dopwn into Wyoming off them and kept some for myself. What lines have worked best for other people-I'm hoping my Lads will stick around but too early to tell.
 
Purely out of my promise.....

Some good 'ol cows that have stuck around here are the ones out of Pharo bulls. We still have a snotty rip that raises a huge, thick calf every year and is first to calve every spring. She stays in good condition and has a great udder. If we could get that dang attitude fixed..... Also, some of the OCC stuff has proved successful. However, some of our more extreme OCC cows in terms of both size and build have had problems earning their keep. Again, another deal where sticking to the middle of the road can pay off.
 
The good ones kind of sneak up on you I knew that Max daughter was older but hadn't counted it off on my fingers for awhile-we try and number brand now so you can tell at a glance. Angus cows age pretty gracefully but once they get old looking their pretty damn old-maybe the EXT's will hold their youthful exuberance longer.
 
lEDGEROCK PINEDRIVE 1387 When we increased the registered we bought 4 of his daughters in a group of 14 cows. 3 stay until they were 14 and then they were sold as 3 in 1 package to a start up breeder. I know they had them for another 4 years. I wish I had know how good 1387 was then I would have had all 14 1387 daughters. We have had Wye descandents stay around for along time also.
 
We don't consider a cow to be old until she's in her teens. If we have to sell her before she's eleven or twelve, then we're not happy. Our oldest current cows are a pair we bought as breds in 1996, and they were not heifers when we bought them. I would guess they were probably four or five at the time, which would make them old enough to vote!

The longer they can keep raising good calves, the more return on your investment, because keeping replacement heifers is not a cheap proposition.

These are mostly Charolais cows, but for real longevity, Limo's are hard to beat. They mature a little slower, but you get paid back on the other end. Our Limo bulls usually keep working well until an average age of 9 or 10.
 
Kato said:
We don't consider a cow to be old until she's in her teens. If we have to sell her before she's eleven or twelve, then we're not happy. Our oldest current cows are a pair we bought as breds in 1996, and they were not heifers when we bought them. I would guess they were probably four or five at the time, which would make them old enough to vote!

The longer they can keep raising good calves, the more return on your investment, because keeping replacement heifers is not a cheap proposition.

These are mostly Charolais cows, but for real longevity, Limo's are hard to beat. They mature a little slower, but you get paid back on the other end. Our Limo bulls usually keep working well until an average age of 9 or 10.
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:agree:
 
I have a couple of Terrlene cows I bought long ago that are still kicking around. 91 and 92 model years. Those and one other bred heifer I bought when I was 12 are the only good purebred female purchases I think I ever made.
We have had REALLY good luck with Traveler bloodlines in the AN side and the old 402M AR cattle.
When my father and uncle split ways we sold all the 5W rib branded cattle which were mostly 5+ year old. That brand on a mature cow grew to over a foot high and damn near 2 feet wide. They were giant billboards.
We found a bunch in a pasture by the side of the road during our travels around over 10 years later. It was pretty neat, except we nearly ditched it when we saw them.
I have been very impressed with our Main Event, Bando and Yellowstone calves on forage, so we will see how they work out.
 
My neighbor trade some gelb/herf heifer caves on a Horned bull from Montana years ago-quite a few years after that I was picking up A'I down there and got to trail a cow born a mile from me in. We were both a long ways from our home pastures.
 
On the angus side- I like some of the old Dale Davis bulls- and the Rito bloodlines-- RR Rito 707...
I know NR might not agree- since this line includes his favorite bull, EXT :wink: -- but we've had some good success with some of the old N Bar bulls like 707's sire Rito N Bar and the Emulation bloodlines-- especially 5522 ....
Thats one of the reasons I'm using the herd bull I am right now- a Rito Legacy 3R9 son that goes back a couple generations to EXT and has a few dash's of Shoshone Viking GD60 on the bottom side...Altho I haven't had too much dealing with them- I have heard several praise the stayability of the Shoshone bloodlines...And several of the old breeders in my part of the country have nothing but the highest to say of the Cole Creek cattle for maternal, survivability, and stayability...

Probably some of the best longevity cattle I've ever seen were the neighbors Tarentaise and tarentaise/red angus cross cows...Some of those old sisters were old enough to vote- and still producing nice calves...
 
Best I've encountered were the group of "4 mature cows" I got to pick from Bob Church's Luing herd to start my herd here. Got the paperwork through a year later to discover 2 were 14 and 2 were 15 years old :shock: :shock: Shipped one open at 17, one just for being old at 21, my favorite gets shipped as soon as we wean her this fall at 23 which leaves me with one who will be 23 by the time she calves next spring.
I'm selling her to a fellow breeder as he wants that bloodline - how's that for resale value? buy her at 14 sell her at 22? :lol: :lol:
 
Maybe we should but we don't let them get that old around here. I like to sell a cow BEFORE she lets me down. 12 is plenty old enough. This does 2 things; it allows us to maintain a young enough cow herd that if the market falls right apart (take this year for example) we can keep everything that's bred, sell the all heifer calves and the herd is still young. It also puts a person in a position to never have to sell a shelly cow.
 
If they're productive and still going past twelve why sell them-a cow makes most of her money for you on her last five calves not her first five. When I sell breds I usually give the buyers their pick-lots of times they take those older solid cows. I don't keep them around just to say their old lol.
 
Northern Rancher said:
If they're productive and still going past twelve why sell them-a cow makes most of her money for you on her last five calves not her first five. When I sell breds I usually give the buyers their pick-lots of times they take those older solid cows. I don't keep them around just to say their old lol.
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It all goes to south when they skip a cog... and they will, it's just a matter of time til they let you down. Then you just lost everything you thought you'd gained. Personally, I like to keep the cow herd saleable at all times, just in case :wink: Cows are worth a lot more money as d1's than as shells too. In a normal cow market that means several hundred dollars.
Plus, who doesn't love calving out heifers :shock: :D
 
We used to mouth the aged cows in the fall when we preg checked.
We got rid of all the gummers and broken mouthed cows. A neighbor/friend was just starting to put some cows together and he
wanted these. He bought them for 2 or 3 years. He got at least 5 years of production out of those cows!!! We were happy for him, but we stopped mouthing cows and began letting the calf tell us how the cow was doing.
 
Well I doubt I've shipped a handful of shelley cows in twenty five years or so-maybe I don't raise cog slippers lol. Usually a cow will come up dry somewheres between deaths door and thrifty or raise a weak enough calf to get culled. Those last few heifer calves off those ageless campaigners are too good to pass up. It's common to see a whole cow family calve up in a tight group at the start. If culling them at twelve works for you but if they are productive and healthy and can run the way I run them they are welcome to stay. I love calving out heifers because I don't calve them out they do it on their own lol.
 
Silver said:
Northern Rancher said:
If they're productive and still going past twelve why sell them-a cow makes most of her money for you on her last five calves not her first five. When I sell breds I usually give the buyers their pick-lots of times they take those older solid cows. I don't keep them around just to say their old lol.
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It all goes to south when they skip a cog... and they will, it's just a matter of time til they let you down. Then you just lost everything you thought you'd gained. Personally, I like to keep the cow herd saleable at all times, just in case :wink: Cows are worth a lot more money as d1's than as shells too. In a normal cow market that means several hundred dollars.
Plus, who doesn't love calving out heifers :shock: :D
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That's the case with all cows isn't it? they all go at some point and they all let you down one way or another at some age. I'm just not convinced that there is as strong a correlation between old age and letting you down as some are suggesting. I'm sure everyone has the odd udder that goes wrong in a younger cow or one that comes up open. I find the biggest wastage comes from 1-3rd calvers in most herds - there are lots that don't breed back and indeed don't get bred in the first place. Then there is the extra management calving heifers take on most places. I don't think most people really work out the cost of bringing heifers into the herd - ie keeping them 2 years beyond weaning before you get a calf to sell. In comparison keeping an older cow saves a whole years feed to get that next calf. We unfortunately need to ship quite a few this fall for one reason and another and quite a few are old. We sold 5 last week in top condition (3 were 13-15 years and 2 were 4-7 years) they brought 33.5 cents. We have some leaner cows to go - if they bring 20 cents that will only be $160 less than these fatter cows. If we get 4 more calves calves out of them that's only costing us $40 a calf in cow depreciation. I can't run a replacement heifer for $40 a year. Of course as NR says it's only good as long as they are doing their job and if you watch them you can see when they are starting to fail.
 
Northern Rancher said:
Well I doubt I've shipped a handful of shelley cows in twenty five years or so-maybe I don't raise cog slippers lol. Usually a cow will come up dry somewheres between deaths door and thrifty or raise a weak enough calf to get culled. Those last few heifer calves off those ageless campaigners are too good to pass up. It's common to see a whole cow family calve up in a tight group at the start. If culling them at twelve works for you but if they are productive and healthy and can run the way I run them they are welcome to stay. I love calving out heifers because I don't calve them out they do it on their own lol.
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If you've had a cow long enough that she raises a 450 lb calf instead of a 550 lb calf, you raised a 'cog slipper'. And if you keep a cow long enough she'll do just that regardless of your super duper genetics. My idea is to get rid of the cow before they raise that weak calf. I'm not saying they necessarily have to go no matter what at twelve, but aound here it's a good goal to reach for.

Grassfarmer said:
Then there is the extra management calving heifers take on most places. I don't think most people really work out the cost of bringing heifers into the herd - ie keeping them 2 years beyond weaning before you get a calf to sell. In comparison keeping an older cow saves a whole years feed to get that next calf.
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Keeping replacements to work into the herd by my math can be a profitable experience under normal market conditions, and thus another good reason not to keep cows far into their golden years. For example, if I keep all my heifer calves and expose them to bulls, I can take the best bred ones and sell the rest as either bred or open yrlgs as the case may be. One thing I've found is that it's generally finacially beneficial to sell yearlings over calves.
 
I just have a bunch of cows that we don't monkey with much so not really super dooper anything. I sell probably 90 percent of my production as fat cattle or breds so weaning weight is kind of a redundant measure for me. By the time they're 1300 pounds not many people can tell me who weaned the heaviest. We don't run cows into the ground but we run them as long as they work. When we used to sell bulls into the U'S I couldn't get over the orphan calves coming into the salebarn from cows that had passed on at calving time-it could of maybe just been a tough year but there were lots of them.
 

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