28 Year Old Hereford Cow

[Okotoks]

The oldest regidtered cow we had was a shorthorn, Diamond Zeena, she produced until she was 18. We had an old balck crossbred cow that made it to 19 or 20.
What's the oldest cow you have had?

Interesting article from Iowa Farmer Today

http://www.iowafarmertoday.com/news/livestock/legacy--year-old-hereford-witnesses-ag-history/article_bdca636e-8650-11e6-b03c-db593835c506.html

 

[oakview]

I have a 15 year old cow and another one that is 14.  Both are still producing, very sound udders.  I wish I had more daughters of each.

 

[SeannyT]

Our farm has had a few over the years that have made the 15-20 year mark. My oldest cow was shipped in the winter of 2015 just shy of her 16th birthday. I had 14 natural calves to show from her, one for each year she was able, so she did not owe us a single thing!

 

[Hopster1000]

It's great reading stories like that. I remembered reading this earlier in the year.

http://www.farmersjournal.ie/at-32-years-of-age-is-this-the-oldest-cow-in-ireland-225749

 

[justintime]

I have had two cows produce until age 21 and several that have made it to age 18. The first cow to make 21 was a dual purpose Shorthorn cow that raised a good calf at 21 but came in from pasture open. She was one of the toughest cows I have ever owned and had the udder of a 4-5 year old when she left here. She was able to maintain her condition about as good as any other cow I have owned. The second cow that reached 21 years of age was a cow I purchased from Shadybrook in Quebec. She was SBF Columbia and was a daughter of JBS Astronaut. She also had a flawless udder right until she died here. She did not start to show her age until she reached 19 years old. At 20 years old she was pregnant when we pregnancy tested so I decided to pamper her a little and put her in with our open heifers for the winter. She gained  weight and was looking pretty good. She was about 2 weeks from calving and had just passed her 21st birthday, when I found her sitting up on the straw bed, with her head around beside her body. It looked like she had just gone to sleep and never woke up.
I sold 2 cows last spring that were just past 18 years old. One of these cows was purchased in 1999 for $2000 and I got $1997 for her as a canner cow. I told my wife that this cattle business was a terrible business as I had lost $3 on her. She was a long time donor cow here and she probably produced more income over the years than 25 others in the herd did in total.

 

[Cabanha Santa Isabel - BR]

I own a 16 years old Shorthorn cow.
Male pregant, will calve on 20 days.
Produced 12 registered calves.
Also four continuos ET flushes with an average of 11 embryos frozen.
Always in poor pasture, never got pasture.

 

[Lucky_P]

Had a 17-yr old SimAngus cow, daughter of Generation III, that took a ride to town when she aborted her last calf at about 5 months.

 

[Hopster1000]

http://www.farmersjournal.ie/oldest-cow-in-ireland-passes-away-250340

Seen this today and remembered about this thread.

 

[oakview]

My cow that is now 16 years old just had twins.  I mentioned to a friend of mine that a 16 year old cow really didn't need to have twins.  He replied that a 4 year old cow doesn't really need to have twins , either.  He's got a point.  This is the 4th set of twins I've had over the past 10 months sired by my Kinnaber Leader 9th son.  2 of the cows were half sisters, the older cow is totally unrelated to any of the others.  One set was identical, two white bulls, two sets had a white heifer and a roan heifer, the last set was a roan bull calf and a roan heifer. 

A 40 something year old cow?  It's really rare to have one old enough to vote, let alone one old enough to vote for Ronald Reagan. 

 

[Simmgal]

Had one that was at least 20 when we sold her. Funny thing was she was a Holstein cross and we sold her because her attitude sucked! (lol)

 

[Mark H]

The oldest cow was a percentage Charolais ccow that raised 18 clves in 17 years. A tough old batt that influenced the herd for years genetically.
The oldest bull we produced was a customer that used a bull he bought as yearling and used him every year untill he died on the place at 22 years old.  The thing about that bull is he never had his feet trimmed and he out lasted about 5 turn overs in the bull battery.  The buyer liked him because he was easy calving and the he made good cows. A member of the family.