What is the average working life of a bull?

But what is the average working lifespan of a sire?

From common conversations during my travels over the past 24 months (at least), irrespective of breed it appears the average working life of our bulls is dropping.

However, it is not measurable and I think there is a lot more to it than just bull breakdowns or problems, despite it being the common 'reason' people assume sires are being sold on.

I think the statement thrown around that XYZ breed doesn't last is redundant - you cannot throw a blanket term across an entire breed.

Especially since there are hundreds of breeders within a society, thousands of bulls.

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And not to mention other factors such as animal health, environment, unfathomable injury or sheer dumb luck, and differing breeding objectives that come into it.

I admit, the number of bulls seen within pens at the saleyards is increasing. And within our stories, there are buyers (both volume or singular) that are annually being listed in the sale reports, however who are we to know much about their breeding operations or what has happened to their previous sire batteries?

Especially since over the last few years producers have experienced extreme natural disasters from droughts to fires and floods. Many sires had to drop out of the system irrespective of age, or sadly many irrespective of the owners actually wanting them to.

There is no quantifiable way to measure the longevity or monitor the longevity of bulls within industry. No way to know the heritability of it because so many outside factors influence it.

I mean wouldn't it be great to look at a catalogue and have a figure that says lot 20 will last two years, lot 15 will last five years and lot 3 a whopping nine years. You would know which to pick based on what parameters or working lifespan suited you.

After bulls exchange hands, they are commonly not transferred within society databases, and therefore they drop out of the system and you may not hear about them again.

Likewise, unless studs are following up with their clients annually they may not know that their latest sale latest six months and then broke a leg, or he is still going eight years down the track.

I do see there is a component of size and confirmation that is playing its hand in the number of bulls breaking down earlier in life.

As bull sales boom, more studs could be offering potential sires that may have less beneficial structural scores, to capitalise on the market.

Likewise, as some producers chase genetic gains or figures solely, they could lose the fundamentals of constitution and with it longevity - compromised constitution results in more breakdowns, and with it unhappy customers.

I hope producers that have had bull breakdowns due to bad feet or structural problems speak up to the vendor.

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The purpose a bull is purchased for is also a consideration when it comes to longevity.

If a bull is bought to be used within a breeding program to produce replacement heifers, his working life may be decreased simply because the joining potential lowers when his daughters reach joining age.

If he is a terminal sire, his working life span might be double the above simply due to him being able to be continually used.

A bull could land on a station after travelling thousands of kilometres, moving from one environment to another, and be put to work over vast distances and hundreds of cows, while another might sell to the neighbours and have access to feed and a small set of cows. They cannot be directly compared, as the environment, stress and work load differs.

Bull turnover could simply be due to producers wanting the newest bloodlines which offer outcross genetics or a genetic advantage in terms of potential gains of weight for age and with it kilograms per hectare produced, or eating quality characteristics.

On the other end of the spectrum, from a seedstock producer's perspective, it is a double edged sword.

You want your bulls to last so you have happy customers and you become known for your sires doing a job, however this means that your annual clientele may decrease. Instead of people needing a new bull every two to three years, it might be six to eight.

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