Oldest cow and bull

[braunvieh]

What has been the oldest producing cow/bull you have had?

We have an 11 year old Braunvieh, she is going strong, that is the longest we have owned any Braunvieh. We sold a 15 year old Charolais, she was good until age 14, then came up open and got thin.
On bulls, our 1st Braunvieh bull we sold at age 10. He was still sound and fertility checked fine but we got worried he might not get his job done.

 

[ROMAX]

We have a black brockle face cow that was born on the farm in '96,still going strong and has the udder of a 3 year old.

 

[justintime]

In 1989, we purchased a few commercial cows. I am not sure how old they were when they were purchased, but they were all in production at the time. Most of them lasted a few years.... all expect for one. This one cow was still producing here in 2008. She was a Salers/Charolais cross cow and had a great udder and milked well.  It was only in the last year that she started to show any age, yet she came home from pasture safe in calf last fall. I am thinking she was a three year old when she arrived, which would make her about 23 years of age when she went back to pasture last spring. She had a nice heifer calf at side, however, she was starting to show signs of arthritis when she walked.

In July/08 I found her dead in the pasture. It looked as if she had died of natural causes, as she was lying with her head curled around by her side as if she was asleep. Up until that time, she looked like she was going to make it through the summer in reasonable shape. Her heifer calf spent the remainder of the summer stealing milk from other cows, and did quite well.

The oldest purebred cow we have had was a cow named Shadybrook Columbia. She was a daughter of JBS Astronaut, and she died one week before she was due to calve again at age 21. She also had a great udder and she also did not show her age until her last year of life. This cow died very similar to the crossbred cow above. As she was close to calving, I was watching her quite closely. I checked her early one morning, and she was laying with her head around beside her as if she was sleeping. As I approached her, I could tell that she had died. it looked as if she had just died in her sleep. Most like her heart had just gave out and she slipped away quietly.

These are two cows I will always remember. Just yesterday, I took a grand daughter of the Columbia cow across the US border and started her on her road trip to her new home in Illinois.

 

[LN]

The oldest cow we have is 15 and going strong. In fact she came in heat this afternoon and is getting AI'd tomorrow. She's a Simbrah and was my first show heifer.

 

[justintime]

The oldest bull we have had was Highfield Irish Mist. He was 14 years old when we lost him to a twisted gut. Actually, he died on the operating table at the Vet college at the U of S of a massive heart attack. He was an amazing bull as he bred over 80 females as a 13 year old sire and he never had his feet trimmed. He was the best walking bull I have ever owned. At 14 years of age he could out walk any person. Even as he got older, he looked better coming off pasture than he did when he went out. I have often wondered how long he would have continued on, if he had not got the twisted gut complication. He was truly a once in a lifetime bull. It is now 36 years since we imported him from Ireland, yet I still refer to him as the best breeding bull to ever walk our pastures. We are using an ET son now so his breeding will still be in our herd 40 years after he arrived.

 

[SKF]

Our oldest cow is our only reg. Pinzgauer and she is 15. She is a great cow she has a calf every year like clock work. She has never had calving problems or been sick and has a great udder.

 

[Joe Boy]

I sold an 18 year old registered Maine this year and she weighed just 1890 after I weaned her calf and she had bred back and would have calved at 11 months.  Her last calf was born at 11 months.  I kept her last heifer out of Bouncer and bred her last week.

I sold two 14 year old Chi-Angus and they both weighed over 1400 and had calves at 12 months and bred back to calf at 11 months.  One of them raised twins at 11 years of age.

I sold two 13 year old cows that gained a calf over their lifetime by leaving them with a bull year around.  And one of them had twins her last year in our heard.  One was a Semi (1400 lbs) and one a Lemi (1100).

We had a half Holstine and half Jersey we raised on a bottle.  We milked her and raised two calves on her every year until she was 14.  From that time on we let her raise her own calf.  Dad did not have the heart to sell her and she would not have brought much.  She died at 22 but did not raise a calf after she was 20.

 

[afhm]

Had one that never missed until she was 21.  As of now we have several 93 & 94 models still going strong.  Had a couple of bulls make it close to 10 but couldn't keep them any longer because we ran out of pastures to use them im w/out inbreeding.  Have a neighbor that used the same bull for 15 years successfully and 1 year unsuccessfully.

 

[BIGTEX]

Had a Limi show heifer that was born in 1988. She died last year.

 

[inthebarnagain]

My grandfather had about 5 cows that were in their 20's, and 2 that were in their early 30's, raised calves every year and never looked their age.  They were little frame score 3 and 4 herefords, angus and hereford/angus crosses. 

My husband and I have an Angus that is 14 and still going strong.

 

[CM Cattle]

I have a herford cow that is 17 years old, and still as big, and healthy as ever. I also have a charlies/holstine cross that is 16, hes is as good as ever, only weighs around 700 pounds, but wings big nice calves.

 

[clubcalve]

We have a 14 1/2 Angus cow that had one of my show hiefers and bred back! ;D

 

[farmboy]

most of our cows are close to 10 but im for sure the oldest is close to 15 . i know most of our herd of cows is based on her. and she hasnt missed a calf as long as i can remember, last years calf died for some reason at 4 months old. this years calf is the 3rd picture

1st is her in the summer
2nd is her on the right and a daughter on the left

 

[Endless Meadows]

Bulls we usually don't keep much past 6 or 7.  Kind of a waste of some years, but we just have too many cows that are related.  Some of the cows are getting pretty old.  We will be selling off the group of older cows this spring.  They will be 13.  The oldest cow I can remember dad bought in '72 with a hf calf at side.  He kept the Hfr and finally sold her in...I can't remember for sure, but it was in the '00 - '03 range.  Amazing thing was that she still had all of her teeth.  Right now my oldest cows will be turning 9.  The best one in that group has not yet missed a calf.  I bought her as a bred hfr and she calved in mid June.  Now she will be calving with her 8th calf in March and then it's in to the donor pen.  Actually she will be starting out our donor pen.

 

[Cattledog]

We have one cow that is 16.  I hope she can give us a couple more calves....she's the farm favorite!

 

[yousesteers]

I know a guy that bought a short solid at a sale about 15 year ago and she had a calf every year he finally sold her last fall she had to be over 20 at the time the last year she raised a nice calf but just could not maintain herself

 

[sjcattleco]

American Muscle's grand dam was 18 when she had his mother and that was her last calf

I know Lee Bigham told me that Gizmo's sire was 18 or 19 when they finally took him to slaughter and he was a lease bull! practically bred cows year round!  would load himself in the trailer when it was time to move on!

 

[beefy]

What has been the oldest producing cow/bull you have had?

We have an 11 year old Braunvieh, she is going strong, that is the longest we have owned any Braunvieh. We sold a 15 year old Charolais, she was good until age 14, then came up open and got thin.
On bulls, our 1st Braunvieh bull we sold at age 10. He was still sound and fertility checked fine but we got worried he might not get his job done.

(thumbsup)i have a brahman x longhorn cow i bought as a ropin calf in the sping of 1986 when she was 4 months old just weaned her 19th calf weighed #670 she was the best $110.00 i ever spent and just preg checked to have a feb calf

 

[Rocky Hill Simmental]

The oldest cow we ever had lived to be 18 years old. She was actually the first cow my dad ever owned. She was a charolais named Snowball and a twin with another heifer. My dad bought her from my uncle before I was even born. I remember when I was in jr. high, she was the only cow older than me. She was stupid and spooky (everyone told us to sell her because they thought she'd hurt someone) but she was a good cow. She was always butterball fat and milked real good. We kept a lot of heifers out of her (I bet most of my dad's her is kin to her.. especially the really fat cows) and some people even bought some of her calves as commercial bulls. She ended up getting real weak one cold winter while she had a 2 month old calf at her side. We ended up having to put her down because she couldn't even walk. We have her calf to another that raised it with her own. We ended up keeping her last calf as a cow too (that calf just turned 6 a couple days ago).

The oldest bull we ever had was about 15. We bought him when was about 13 because we sold our bull because he kept tearing up fences. This bull was a huge red 3/4 salorn, 1/4 buffalo bull. He was a big guy with a woolly coat. He was by far the smartest bull we ever had too. We sold him when we started using our current bull.

The oldest cow we have now is about 12. She's a yellow limi cross cow.
We've had a lot of different breeds in the commercial herd. lol

 

[mike]

The oldest cow we ever had was 19,my brother showed her in 89 and was born in 88, she died last year on the place although she quit producing in 96 we just couldnt,has our high dollar calf every year and we are down to a bank of 11 eggs on her