Will my old bull last another season?

on 22nd March 2026

A question a lot of our clients ask…but probably the wrong question.

A nine or ten year old Gyranda bull may well have the structure and constitution to keep delivering calves, but rather than Will the bull go another round we are better to ask Should my old bull stay on.

Genetic progress in the Gyranda herd, along with much of the performance side of Santas, is increasing at a rapid rate. The graph below is for one of the three indexes in Santas (the other two follow a similar pattern) which combines traits to give a dollar figure. It is for the whole Gyranda herd and you will note that the index has increased from +39 in 2016 to +65. It is accelerating over recent years.

By this index the Gyranda Genetics is improving at nearly 10% per year. The average animal is nearly twice as good (for indexing) as an animal in 2016. The bull you bought five years ago will probably deliver 30% less genetic value than the bull you buy today for the same relevant price.

A well written recent Beef Central article :’While you were watching your competitors, the genetic gap widened’, explored this concept further , because while those who utilise data have been improving productivity at a rapid rate, it is far from universal across the beef industry. The divergence between those commercially focussed operators who harness data …and those who don’t, is widening, not because the baseline of beef genetics is getting worse, but because the top end is improving so much faster than you might imagine.

That cold, hard fact, ladies and gentlemen, combined with the stellar meatworks price at present is why you should really look hard at your older sires in preparation for next joining season.