Donor Cow

[tnwalkingred]

If money wasn't a factor and you were going to buy one donor cow to start a registered black angus herd which bloodline and farm/ranch would you be trying to purchase from? Would you purchase a proven donor or buy progeny out of a proven donor that might be the "next great thing"? Any bloodlines you would want to stay away from?

I'm curious to see the various opinions as to what everyone thinks would be the best route to go if you could start fresh with any one line of breeding.

KW

 

[Jessica06]

I would absolutely go with a proven donor. Buying something that's never been flushed before is a real cr@p shoot.

 

[bse]

Were a little different around here, money is a big object, not in it to money swap. If it wasn't I don't think I'd still be looking for that proven donor, sometimes the so called proven donor is used up, several years ago we bought one that had been flushed several times, we flushed her once 6 non fertile eggs then took 2 years to get her in calf, didn't have much in her but that's my experience with proven.

Were flushing 3 cows now, just bought them out of local sales, liked the cows and pedigrees. 2 are working out great 1 not so much, but we sold her first calf for twice what we paid for her.

I like Right Time cattle really well, if I was picking 1 that would be the line. 1 of the 3 is a RT daughter. The other 2 are straight Sinclair bred cows.
Right Time x Eluna
XXP x Enchantress
707 of Ideal 533 x Lady

That's the 3, in 2 years we have 11 calves out of the 3, six due in Feb, 10 going in this Tuesday, 22 eggs left and hopefully all bred back. They may not be the $100,000 dollar calves, but there what we like, and that's what matters to me.

 

[cjschmitt]

To me flushing a cow isn't an option until she has proven she can work for me in my environment with my rules. Flushing cattle that arent proven through progeny performance, breeding history, etc isnt worth it to me. I wouldnt buy a cow just to flush them. If I was just starting I would buy a set and calve them out for several years. The cows that maintain good teat and udder, good feet and legs, breed back early every year, and raise big phenotypical calves would be the ones I flush on.

 

[double v]

Starting out I won't buy a donor cow, I would try to develop my own and build up the bank account before going that route.

 

[Son of Butch]

If money wasn't a factor and you were going to buy one donor cow...
KW

SAV Blackcap May - Son sold for $750,000
Sandpoint Blackbird 8809
1/2 interest sold for $220,000 as a 4 yr old and she has generated over 1.2 million in sales by age 7
But you can add their influence to your herd by just buying semen of their sons.

There has to be plenty of full sisters to some of the 'hot' A.I. sires, IF you feel like throwing money at them.

 

[Ebenezer]

Depends if you want to try to sell other folk's cattle or your own. Or if your goal is sale averages, fame or just decent cattle. If you have been in the business 5 or more years and do not have a cow or two that does about everything you need something is wrong and buying somebody else's cow is not going to help you with the problems you apparently already have in the pasture. I wonder if many donor cows only sell open because they will not breed back? But, to be open and honest, I already doubt a lot of the promotion, commotion and motion of big sales. If I flushed a cow or cow there are 9 or 10 in the pasture that please me. Perfect? No, but they fit the environment, do what I need and I could only wish that the rest of the herd can be like them. I'd rather have money makers than money spenders.

About the same for bulls. Used 811, 805 and 825 last year - all home raised Angus as 27 month or 15 month old bulls plus a few AI from proven bulls. Will use 715, 678 and 822 next year and maybe a dab of AI to well proven bulls; proven here or in other fescue environments. I'm too old to believe that Santa comes down the chimney anymore in the latest AI catalog.

 

[Boot Jack Bulls]

Too bad you limited the query to black Angus! I can tell you that if I had the chance to buy a proven LIMI donor and had an endless budget, cows like Carrousels Pina Colada and Carrousels Peaches would be first on my list!! I think Peaches is deceased now, but every time I find their embryos on a tank clean-out/dispersal sale, we all but give our kidneys to get them bought!

Peaches

 

[tnwalkingred]

BSE,

Thanks for the comment about buying previous donor cows and some of the issues you've experienced. I too feel like a person is better off finding a young female they really like for pedigree, performance, phenotype, etc. and flushing them. If your smart about what you buy and buy something from a proven lineage I think you lessen the odds that it doesn't work out. I'll do some research into the Right Time line you mentioned. If I was buying one today it would be from the Coleman Donna family.

Anyone can buy semen on various Bulls and improve the quality of their herd a little at at time but the bull is only half the DNA. Buying a female that meets all the criteria I'm looking for and flushing her would produce a higher quality progeny in a much shorter period of time. There is a reason so many breeders are moving more and more into ET which is now a standard for most registered breeders.

I meant for this thread to be more about which cow families people liked well enough to buy a donor cow from and less about whether or not they think ET is a good idea.

KW

 

[tnwalkingred]

Boot Jack,

Thanks for sharing the picture of Peaches! She is a very nice cow. If I wasn't already keeping up with TWO registered herds then I might look into a limousine.

KW

 

[Boot Jack Bulls]

Boot Jack,

Thanks for sharing the picture of Peaches! She is a very nice cow. If I wasn't already keeping up with TWO registered herds then I might look into a limousine.

KW

I hear you! We run a Limi herd, black Angus, Lim-Flex ( both red and black) and we have commercial herds too. Breeding time is a major headache!

 

[tnwalkingred]

Yeah I've got a commercial herd as well and keeping up with all 3 is a headache. One day I'll have all the commercial cattle gone but for now it is what it is. Do you also have goats?

KW

 

[wildcat2154]

Cow Families I like are the ones at Schaff such as madame pride, abigale, blackcap may etc. I also like the Forever Lady's that I have seen.

 

[Boot Jack Bulls]

Yeah I've got a commercial herd as well and keeping up with all 3 is a headache. One day I'll have all the commercial cattle gone but for now it is what it is. Do you also have goats?

KW

Yes, we have goats. Right now we have 30 mature does, about 12 replacement doelings, 4 weathers we are feeding up, and we stand 3 mature bucks. We actually sold off about 30 does and young bucks over the last couple of months. We only have 6 young bucks and the weathers left to sell right now. Our does usually have twins, but some have trips on a regular basis, and some even have quads, so one minute you have 30, and then you blink and you have 60!