How to salvage older quality bulls

After using a bull for 3 or 4 years , many breeders pack the bulls in order to  replace them with  different bloodlines or  younger bulls---I have often thought that it would  work to my benefit  to purchase some of these older bulls to use in my herd ----I have bought many young bulls and  many do not develope as I  hoped----with that in mind , I would appreciate any help that might be offered---I am interested in Shorthorns , heavy in  commercial traits----horns or polled, red, white or roan makes no difference ---as long as they produce thrifty, productive cattle.......Any ideas how to locate such bulls?

I would think you'd get some interest just by posting on here. 

Get more wanted type ads out there. Especially on the association sites or in there publications. We currently have bought two old herd bulls and are extremely happy with the results. Don't be afraid to tell lots of people because you never know who could catch wind, that's how we purchased our last big bull.

The disease risks far outweigh the benefits in my opinion.  If you were going to do it I would collect semen and AI, but then again why not just by semen in that case on an even better bull at an AI stud. 

hamburgman said:

The disease risks far outweigh the benefits in my opinion.  If you were going to do it I would collect semen and AI, but then again why not just by semen in that case on an even better bull at an AI stud. 

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This is a good reason to buy your bulls from reputable breeders or people you trust to have a good herd health program in place. Check them out and know something about the program before you turn their bull out with your cows. There are lots of breeders who do a good job with that, but it would be naive to assume that everybody does.

hamburgman said:

The disease risks far outweigh the benefits in my opinion.  If you were going to do it I would collect semen and AI, but then again why not just by semen in that case on an even better bull at an AI stud. 

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what would that cost to get a vet to clear him? $25 maybe $50?  Sometimes fear mongering out weighs common sense. 

I think you're on to something here PRC.  I'll take a good 6-7 year old proven bull over a prospect any day.  Wish my Texas Rangers would follow this as well.

We sold our herd bull this way last year. We were going a different way and had some replacements out of him. He was 5 years old. We took the people out and showed what he had done for us. We had some carcass data too. We had to get a semen test, blood test, and over vet check and they bought him. It worked well for us plus they got one that they knew was proven.

you would need to run blood tests for all sexually transmitted diseases such as vibrio, lepto, those that you are vaccinating your cows for.
you also have to have 3 consecutive clear blood tests for trich on a non-virgin bull

that being said however, you could most likely buy a bull as you are describing at a bargain price....
even if it costs you $500 to run all these tests, it would be worth it if it is a bull you are really excited about and that could really be a fit for you.

I think if you are buying him from a reputable breeder that has an excellent health program in place and you run all the disease tests you can possibly run,
you would benefit from it.

Granted that proper  vet checks and tests must be done ---there is alot of good bulls with potential that go to the packers ---I do not AI due to pasture size and lite stocking rate, unable to check cattle properly----I am not interested in the show cattle , just bulls that produce good  daughters  that can earn a living and raise a calf--this is  semi arid ranch country , a cow to 30 A in normal years, it takes 100 A in drought ---so the cows have to work--- thanks for all the input ---I now need to find the best places to look for such bulls-----

I don't think this is a bad idea and really think a person can inject some high quality, proven genetics with minimal financial expenditure.  I have done this very thing on occasion with mixed results.  The number one thing a person must consider is if the bull has lived in an environment similar to yours.  Mature animals do not adapt to different climates and resources like a yearling or calf does.  Just because a bull has bred cows for 7 years in small pasture fescue country does not necessarily mean that he is good for another 2 or 3 years in the desert or high mountain range country.  Proceed with CAUTION.  <cowboy>