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to what age do you run your bulls

S

scout

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 16, 2007
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273
Location
southeast Iowa
I have two hereford bulls one is going on 4 years old the other is going on 5. i don,t keep replacements. is there any scienctific reason . I should cull them. they have one qualilty I really like and thats there payed for. I don,t believe the next ones will be as reasonable as these.
 
Cull bulls at 5,if you are determined to keep them longer,I would test them before I bet my calf crop on them..........test good and they travel well,use them another year.
good luck
 
As long as the basics (semen test, mobility, libido) are there and the social dynamics work (an old bull doesn't put off young sires from working and then not cover the cows himself) they are fine forever.
We spin bulls out of our young cows fairly frequently (every 2 years) and migrate them into our older cows until they are either traded or have done all the damage they can do. We are always trying to improve the young herd as that's where our replacements come from, so we turn sires quite a bit. By default the mature herd improves over time as well.
 
If everything is working good I will keep them til something goes south. Seldom does their disposition get better with age though. Most are gone by 7 or 8.
 
As long as they can walk and breed. Do a semen test and feet/leg evaluation each spring. We have a bull that will be ten next spring and is still one of the most agressive breeders and easiest keepers here.
 
Don't know if it is just my luck but I've had two bulls, one 7 year old and two 6 year old, get injured beyond use this year because of fighting. Guess the older one wouldn't quit until the younger one hurt him. Cost me several $$ to have them limp thru the ring. Probably more than I saved by keeping them that long. But if the neighbors bull would have stayed where he belonged it wouldn't have been a problem. It will be somehthing to consider when keeping a good bull longer than 3-4 years.
 
As long as they are sound then you can use them as long as you want.

But you really are not improving your herd if you use the same genetics year after year. Unless of course your cows and bulls are perfect . :wink:

People saying "it has worked for us for many years" I know the old adage of "if it is not broke don't fix it" but times change and you need to push your herd each year to get the most out of it.

If you really like your bulls I would keep some replacement heifers out of them and breed them to a new bull.

BTW you should test every bull before each breeding season no matter the age.
 
I'm curious with all the people finding the bulls get bad tempered as they get older - are these bulls that were worked for sales ie halter broke, pampered versus ranch raised bulls?
I've used mainly home raised bulls since I was 16 and never had one, of any breed, go bad with me. We had 2 over the years that did go bad and they were both pedigree sale barn bulls.
As for for age I expect mine to last to 7 or 8 years on average. No reason why they shouldn't - they have an easier life than cows do.

As for changing genetics every year because the newer version must be better - that's BS. Why should they automatically be better?? oh yeah higher prices, dearer semen, bigger EPD numbers :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: Ahh, the emotion, promotion and commotion game of the purebred industry. If your bull supplier sells you bulls that only last 2 or 3 seasons but he says that's OK because he has better ones coming along at the next sale I suggest you shop elsewhere. Same with bad tempered bulls - if a lot of them are going bad with you - bad enough to ship - I'd be querying my handling of them and if that's not at fault shop elsewhere for your bulls. You wouldn't tolerate bad tempered cows so why keep buying bad tempered bull? Not all bulls in all breeds are like this.
 
Those are pretty much my sentiments GF. if the herd sires you have are what you and the market desires, longevity, easy fleshing, good rate of gain when they do go on feed, good feet, desirable female progeny, etc why would you turn them over every 3 to 4 years just to replace them with another high priced yrling or two yr old.
Worried about in-breeding? If you have a pasture situation, you can keep things sorted out. In a range situation as we have, there are enough bulls and females out there that though the chance is there, I'm not too worried about Pa getting the daughter.
I do like Soapweeds idea also, buy bull calves from a reputable source at a little premium over feeder steer price and can the whole works when breeding season is over. The dollars work better than what we're doing now. I believe we will eventually phase into that mode.
 
We run our bulls 4 years and ship them. But we keep our own replacement heifers too. They get A.I.'d and then a cleanup bull. We breed on the mountain where it's not viable to seperate into different groups. Usually buy one new bull each spring and ship one old bull each fall or early winter. I've seen bulls of all breeds that are snorty and some that are easy going and mellow. Bulls that don't see people too often cause they summer on the mountain and winter on the desert tend to be higher headed. I like Soap's idea of buying yearlings, using them for a breeding period and then shipping them. No headaches from torn up corrals or feeding all winter.
 
GF who says the bulls are retired or culled. I know a lot of people that rotate or share bulls throughout the years. My first clean up bull I got him as a 3 yr old from another PB producer he stayed here for three seasons and then I sold him to a commercial fella who is still using him on his heifers. My balancer bull went to slaughter this year and my PB bull (that we raised here) went to the same fella and he is going to use him on his cows. He wants to add more muscle and depth to his calves and saw what Big Gun added to our Lattimer bull calves.

As far as genetics , you can keep using your same bulls and I will continue to AI my whole herd and use a clean up only when necessary. It will be really easy this year after dispersing 70% of it.. :roll:

Also we try not to bring in any cattle so we usually breed our own future bulls by using AI or embryo transplants.

If you really look close at your cattle is there not something you would like to improve on ?

As far as meaness, the only time I have seen a bull get meaner as he gets older have been dairy bulls and they can turn into mean deadly sob's.

Everyone does things differently and that does not make it wrong but when I sell a bull I expect him to last as long as the breeder expects him to, if that means 10 years worth of breeding + then that is how long he should last. I do not make all my bull money from just selling bulls to repeat customers, but from them telling other producers how impressed they are with the bull that they have bought from me .
 
Last spring/summer was a disaster for bulls on this place. Two got too difficult to handle, one broke its leg, two wouldn't stay home, one got struck by lightning I'm guessing, and another one became lame. The only positive is that we only have six head to feed this winter (always an optomist :D ). I hate the thought of buying a lot of bulls this spring, and most likely they won't be anything too special.

Usually bulls are culled at five years since they get harder to handle. This isn't always due to disposition, but due to topography instead. I don't usually take anything older than four to the forest since I may not get them home. If I see an older bull starting to hang by himself, I try to get him back home while I can still spot him. I'll admit I sometimes create problems with these bulls since I work mostly by myself, and they can get away with stuff they shouldn't. My dogs are helpful, but are really not powerful enough if a bull insists on brushing up. It's a fine line to know when you're going to agitate them further and get them buried deeper, or succeed and trail them out. I just as soon let them come back out on their own, or try and trail cows near them to bait them out. Gotta love a hot cow when gathering bulls off the forest!

When I used to run cattle on the open plains, handling never seemed to be a big issue, but in the mountains, old bulls sure know how to take advantage of brush, rock piles, timber, etc.. Life is just a lot easier with younger bulls who like to stay with the cows, even after things are bred-up. Ultimately, Soapweed has the right idea :wink: :D .
 
The three best bulls we ever owned were bought as three year olds after being purebred herd sires. As long as they are sound, and can pass their semen tests, they get to stay. The other reason to sell one would be disposition. We won't put up with a cranky bull. Life's too short for that kind of nonsense. Our current bulls range from 2 to 10 years old.

Our bulls are generally over 7 when sold, and the oldest one we've had made it to 11. He actually went to another herd to breed!
 
these two bulls both have great dispositions and as of 2 days ago when I checked them were both sound. being we have a spring herd and fall herd we keep them pretty busy. the polled bull on is time off still has plenty of libido. they don't fight at all in fact i have seen both of them breed the same cow 4 times in 20 minutes. i would like to get to flush brothers from the same breeder next time because these two are as different as day and night . but calves are consisten in the end. and thats what counts. so I ll run at least through 2010. my breeder suggested buying in the spring instead of the fall like i have done in the past for better selection
 

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