It is in a fertile farming area at the junction of State Highways 1 and 3, 28 km (17 mi) northwest of Palmerston North.

[2] Recent marketing makes puns with the name, for example, "New Zealand gets its milk from Bulls" or the sign for the local police station "Const-a-bull".

Ō-hine-puhiawe, a land block where Parewahawaha marae is situated, acts as a synecdoche to refer to the current town area.

[4] The eastern end of the State Highway 1 bridge over the Rangitikei River south-east of the town collapsed suddenly in 1973 while being crossed by a bus.

The marae features the Parewahawaha meeting house, a whare tūpana opened on 15 April 1967 by Maori Queen Te Atairangikaahu.

[9] In October 2020, the Government committed $1,248,067 from the Provincial Growth Fund to upgrade the marae and five others, creating 69 jobs.

In recent years several defence houses have been sold to civilian buyers which has seen a steady decline of servicemen from the area, but a moderate presence remains nonetheless.

In 2017 it was announced that the Republic of Singapore Air Force is looking at establishing a permanent F-15 fighter jet training base at Ohakea with an estimated presence of 500 Singaporean personnel.

This announcement came with the news that the current New Zealand Defence Force unit responsible for maritime surveillance, No.

[25] The nearest state secondary school (year 9–13) is Rangitikei College, 16 km (9.9 mi) away in Marton.