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<blockquote data-quote="regolith" data-source="post: 1138533" data-attributes="member: 9267"><p>Good points above for *beef* operations.</p><p></p><p>I've never done ET, don't quite have the sort of quality cows yet that I want to be starting on. So these are just thoughts.</p><p></p><p>Be realistic about what Leah has to offer. Do you know her dam's history and her grandam's, any half sisters, every piece of information you can get to indicate how good her genes are. Find out what it might cost to flush her and weigh that against your other options for using that investment to improve your herd... you might be able to buy in genetics just as good as what you might obtain by flushing what you've got.</p><p></p><p>If you've got that information and decide to go ahead with flushing and ET, don't use sexed semen. It'll lower your chances of success.</p><p></p><p>Are you seasonal calving in spring? From what I've heard ET can delay a cow's conceiving normally, so could put her yearly calving interval back if done after calving. It would be an ideal time however to synchronise some of your other cows that are ready to get back in calf and have them ready to receive embryos. The ideal recip in this case is a healthy cow who isn't good enough to retain her own heifers in the herd, and isn't likely to be culled before next calving.</p><p></p><p>If you've got the confidence in Leah's background, go ahead and do it while she's young. Sure, it would be nice to wait and see if she's your top production 2 year old and can get in calf quickly... but its her genetics you want and there's a significant environment/luck factor contributing to a cow's performance. Plus cows can be accident prone, especially top cows.</p><p>The cows you want to flush are the top 10% (or 2%) of your herd. If you weren't focussing on one cow, but on the herd as a whole, I'd be inclined to pick mature cows out of that top 10% for production, that are also sound on all other important traits.</p><p></p><p>Crikey you guys are busy posting while i'm thinking <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> </p><p>y'all know you can harvest ovaries and have the oocytes matured in the a test-tube right? They were doing that back in '97 when I was researching the subject, the early research was done with harvested ovaries from culled cows.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="regolith, post: 1138533, member: 9267"] Good points above for *beef* operations. I've never done ET, don't quite have the sort of quality cows yet that I want to be starting on. So these are just thoughts. Be realistic about what Leah has to offer. Do you know her dam's history and her grandam's, any half sisters, every piece of information you can get to indicate how good her genes are. Find out what it might cost to flush her and weigh that against your other options for using that investment to improve your herd... you might be able to buy in genetics just as good as what you might obtain by flushing what you've got. If you've got that information and decide to go ahead with flushing and ET, don't use sexed semen. It'll lower your chances of success. Are you seasonal calving in spring? From what I've heard ET can delay a cow's conceiving normally, so could put her yearly calving interval back if done after calving. It would be an ideal time however to synchronise some of your other cows that are ready to get back in calf and have them ready to receive embryos. The ideal recip in this case is a healthy cow who isn't good enough to retain her own heifers in the herd, and isn't likely to be culled before next calving. If you've got the confidence in Leah's background, go ahead and do it while she's young. Sure, it would be nice to wait and see if she's your top production 2 year old and can get in calf quickly... but its her genetics you want and there's a significant environment/luck factor contributing to a cow's performance. Plus cows can be accident prone, especially top cows. The cows you want to flush are the top 10% (or 2%) of your herd. If you weren't focussing on one cow, but on the herd as a whole, I'd be inclined to pick mature cows out of that top 10% for production, that are also sound on all other important traits. Crikey you guys are busy posting while i'm thinking :) y'all know you can harvest ovaries and have the oocytes matured in the a test-tube right? They were doing that back in '97 when I was researching the subject, the early research was done with harvested ovaries from culled cows. [/QUOTE]
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