oldest cow you know of?

[yuppiecowboy]

The thread on clubby bulls and longevity got me thinking. What are the oldest animals you know of?

Get your hip waders on, but this is first hand told to me...

Doc Thomas (THAT doc thomas, if you were around 20 years ago) Told me he euthanized a small herd of registered polled herefords that had a bull and 6 cows that were 47 years old. Supposedly an old batchelor had them and brought them in to the dairy barn every night, bedded and fed. I called BS, but he swore it was documentable and he put them down himself and saw the pedigrees.

Myself, I had a cow hit 20.

I had a neighbor that had the same 5 cows on his acreage for 15 years and they were adult when he got them.

I was at a salebarn that ran a pound cow in the ring with a hot brand and a freezebrand. Auctioneer stopped and said "I know that iron, I worked there. I know their freeze brand system, that cow is either 7, or shes 27. Holy Shit, I think i remember her. She was an old bitch back then!"

 

[shortyjock89]

Shoot, we don't even have any cows very old now, I think our oldest is 8 at the moment.  I have seen a 17 year old cow, and have heard of people having 25 year old cows around here, but I don't know if that's true or not.

 

[ROAD WARRIOR]

An old friend of mine (now deceased) sold a 2 year old bull to a gentleman and never heard anything from him for 20 years when he came back to pick out his next herd bull replacement. RW

 

[justintime]

In 1989, I purchased an entire herd of Charolais and Charolais cross females. One cow was a Charolais X Saler cross cow and she was already in production and had had at least two calves when I bought the herd. I never did ever find out her exact age from the seller. She was still here in 2009 and had a calf every year from 1989 to 2009. She had twins in 2008 at age of at least 22 years.
She looked good until the spring of 2009 when she started to favor a back leg ( looked like artritis to me). She had a nice heifer calf in 2009. One day last summer while doing a pasture check, I found her dead in the pasture. She was lying with her head around by her side, as if she was sleeping, and was dead. It looked like she had just died of natural causes in her sleep.

I have had 3 other cows make 20 years of age. One was a cow named Shadybrook Columbia, a daughter of JBS Astronaut. She was bred to calve at age 22 and I put her in with the heifer calves for the winter for some extra care. She died about 1 month before she was due to calve. She had an udder of a 4 year old when she died. She also hardly showed any age until she reached 20 years of age. She also never missed a calf in the years I owned her. I purchased her as an 8 year old cow hoping I could get a heifer calf out of her before she died. The heifer calf she had at age 21 was in our herd until last fall, when she came in open.

 

[kanshow]

We have a cow that we know is 17.  She calved on time in the first two weeks of calving season and still gave us a good threat when her baby was new.  But she is showing her age and this winter has been hard on her.    We have a handful of other cows that we can't document age on but know them to be 1993, 1994, 1995 aged cows. 

 

[inthebarnagain]

My grandfather had some hereford cows that were in their 30's.  Spit out a calf every year too. 

 

[doublej]

We have a Sim cow and an angus cow both 12 years old. They were my 24 year old son's first heifers he showed. Both cows in great flesh and have had calfs every year. We have a friend with a herd of chianina x and he has 3 cow that are 26 years old and still having calves....amazing!!!!

 

[aj]

My wife's old father in law(I married a widow woman) got a calllast week. The brand inspector had called him about an old cow that went through a salebarn. It had his brand on it. The cow had to be a minimum of 21 years old he explained cause he had sold his cows way back and still owns the brand. I wasn't sure I believed the story at first but apparently it could be true.

 

[knabe]

wasn't the "first" angus cow something like 32?

 

[NHR]

As a breed I believe the Longhorn has the best longevity. The cows easily live past 20 years of age.

 

[shortdawg]

WHR's 3R52 cow which is Sonny's Dam is still kicking I think. I saw her in the pasture out there once - went up and pet her - Razor said he just gives her shots for flushing in the pasture. If she's still alive she has to be 17-18 years old.

 

[aj]

I don't know if this is a rural rumour or urban legend. But supposedly there was a horned Herford cow running in the breaks north of Saint Francis. This is rough tough country, hills straight up and down, coyotes run in packs and etc.. Supposedly this cow was running in a section of grass and was to cagey to ever be caught. She went into this property as a calf on the side of her dam and never came out. I was thinking she was at least 15 when she finally died. She'd winter there by herself and calve out. In the spring other cows were turned out there with a bull. She'd raise a calf and the rancher would pull calves and cows out all but here self over and over again. The one real bad winter when the national gaurd was dropping hay to cattle they made sure she got a little. I guess she was one coyote killing efficient fertile ole rip. She wasn't an all american but I would say she was a good un.

 

[sjcattleco]

our old Pandora cow which was AM's grand dam was 19 when she died and I found her just like justintime's old cow dead in the pasture like she was asleep.... Only cow I have ever buried!  When I bought her she was 10 and looked 5  and she was still a pretty cow right up until the end...

 

[beefy]

I have an old  brahman x longhorn cow i bought as a tie down roping calf in 1986. she just had her22nd calf ( she had twins one year). still looks ten years old and still raises a big calf every year. best  $125.00  i ever invested    <cowboy>

 

[chiangus]

I got right now that is pushing 20