Do any of you who use ET calf raiser programs have any good things to say. Most I am hearing and experiencing is not to good. I guess it's not there calf and they don't care how it weans. There is a lot of people being turned off from these programs. I have used them and am considering purchasing another 40-60 recips and using my recips that I already have and raising them at the farm. Buying the preg recip is around $1200. you get her at about 90-110 days confirmed preg and you own cow and calf. You do have to calf it out and can re use the recip to put in another egg. The results from some calf raisers will put a black eye on the raiser program or result in some calves not picked up due to poor ratio's and performance numbers/condition.
The benefit to the program is you don't do 1 thing until you pick the calf at weaning. They run $900-$1100 per weaned calf. That covers transfers, sync drugs, shots,feed, and winter costs. I have built up a donor line-up that I think the ET calves are better than most of my registered cows can out raise. I don't believe in using a registered herd as recips, I can get recips for 1/2 to 1/3 less. With the continual drought, I can't raise 120 registered females, 50 or so bulls and 50 recips. I am thinking about selling some of my higher end registered cows and replacing with recips for my egg bank. I hope I am not making a wrong decision but my ET calves average 2-4 times more than most of my natural calves average at sales. We'll see, at least I can keep you guys posted if it works or not. Maybe I can help someone save from making the wrong decision or change to what I did if it works. Well see. Any suggestions
The benefit to the program is you don't do 1 thing until you pick the calf at weaning. They run $900-$1100 per weaned calf. That covers transfers, sync drugs, shots,feed, and winter costs. I have built up a donor line-up that I think the ET calves are better than most of my registered cows can out raise. I don't believe in using a registered herd as recips, I can get recips for 1/2 to 1/3 less. With the continual drought, I can't raise 120 registered females, 50 or so bulls and 50 recips. I am thinking about selling some of my higher end registered cows and replacing with recips for my egg bank. I hope I am not making a wrong decision but my ET calves average 2-4 times more than most of my natural calves average at sales. We'll see, at least I can keep you guys posted if it works or not. Maybe I can help someone save from making the wrong decision or change to what I did if it works. Well see. Any suggestions
