Flushed today

[gizmom]

We flushed our three donors today and I would call it a really good day. We had set up 26 cows for recips and 24 of them worked that was the best we had ever done as far as % of usable recips. We had purchased 8 embryos from Coleman Angus in Montana we implanted all eight of those. The first cow we flushed was our 658 cow a Morgans Direction daughter that we have flushed several times. This time we flushed her to Final Answer we got 8 eggs implanted 6 and froze 2. The next donor is a EXT x Traveler 71 cow she produced 18 eggs we implanted 8 and froze 10. The last cow is a cow we purchased from Galen Fink 11 years ago this old cow isn't going to win any beauty contest but she sure is a good mamma cow and we wanted to have some insurance in the tank, we got 14 eggs and implanted 2. At this point we were out of recips so had no option but to freeze the rest. Now to see how many take I have said this before but it is the truth the cattle business will teach you how to be patient.

Gizmom

 

[Baldie Maker]

Have you posted any pictures of your Morgans direction donor before? I really liked the look of that bull and hate that he is a carrier.

 

[gizmom]

I am sure I have at some point but can't remember when. I remember when Morgans Direction tested dirty my heart sank. We were sure relieved when 658 came back clean. This was the forth time we have flushed this cow twice to New Day 8005 last year we used two different bulls EXT and Juneau we got 4 or 5 calves out of the flush but will have to DNA test to determine the correct sire. This year we used final Answer I think this will produce some nice calves. I know I have some photos of the cow I will try to locate them and post them when I do. The 658 cow is pretty massive really deep with a ton of capacity she weighs about 1320 and matains condition even when raising a really nice calf.. Her maternal ability is amazing when you realize we flushed her last year on 1/6 she calved in Oct and was flushed again today. Like I said this was the forth time we have flushed her and she has been able to stay right with the other cows as far as our calving season which is 75 days. The only negative I have found with this cow is her udder is less than perfect not horrible but not as good as I would like, so I try to breed to improve on this. We have a number of her daughters in the herd and all have better looking udders than their dam.

Gizmom

 

[AllForage]

You seem to do an awful lot of this stuff. At what point is your herd good enough in your mind? Is there a goal? When do you start using your own genetics and hold the line on what you have.

Seems to me you are re-arranging your genetic furniture every year.

respectfully just curious.

 

[Lon]

You seem to do an awful lot of this stuff. At what point is your herd good enough in your mind? Is there a goal? When do you start using your own genetics and hold the line on what you have.

Seems to me you are re-arranging your genetic furniture every year.

respectfully just curious.

Correct me if i am wrong but the way i read it was she was flushing her own cattle as well. That in my head says that she does believe her herd is good enough to use her own genetics. The goal i imagine would be like every cattlemans goal should be and that in my mind would be no matter if you have the poorest looking longhorn correinte cattle or the best looking seedstock to always be trying to improve over what you have. To work twords better cattle than what you already have since there isnt such thing as a perfect cattle herd. By flushing her best cows and buying embryos and semen from cattle that she must believe to be better than hers or she wouldnt spend money on this one way to help mate them together to try and produce that better herd of cattle.

 

[jscunn]

Congratulations on a good day Gizmom. I hope you get plenty of pregnancies.

What were the sires of the other two flushes?

 

[gizmom]

All forage

Our short term goal is to have 150 purebred cows. We currently have around 90 with the balance being commercial cows. We use the commercial as recips we flushed three of our own cows so we are utilizing our own genetics. The purchased embryos are out of proven genetics lines that we want to inject into our herd. Our long term goal is to have all purebred cattle that are all flush quality females, as you know not all cows no matter what the genetic package work. We cull hard so it will take time to reach these goals. As to rearranging our genetic future I would have to disagree, when you start looking at our pedigrees you would see that there is a plan in place. The most difficult part of breeding cattle is staying on track, it is so easy to chase the new hot bull we try very hard to stay within our plan.

Lon

Thanks your right it is our job as seed stock producers to seek perfection, even though we realize that we probably will never reach that goal. If we ever quit trying it is time to disperse because at that point you have lost the passion of the quest.

Jscunn

Thanks my friend we flushed the old EXT/Traveler 71 cow to Boyd New Day 8005 that cross has worked so well for us that I just could'nt resist. This cow is 13 years old so we are giving her a year off and flushing her a couple more times.

The other cow is another 13 year old Cow that we purchased from the Fink program as an open heifer. She has done a fine job for us we have three daughters in production that are doing great jobs. This is the kind we want, maybe not the pretty type but a hard working kind. We flushed her to our 6149 bull he is a wulff's EXT out of the Donna J311 cow. We have two daughters out of this mating and like them enough to want more.

Now we just have to see how many calves we get. We used several wet two year olds so that could hurt our conception rate a bit.

Gizmom

 

[3waycross]

Have you posted any pictures of your Morgans direction donor before? I really liked the look of that bull and hate that he is a carrier.

He is also VERY poor for Hi Altitude. I looked at several yearlings out of him a few years ago. Everyone of them toe'd out on their left front foot.

 

[gizmom]

3way
We are 9 ft above sea level here so elevation has not been a problem. I know you folks at higher elevations have to consider high altitude performance but to be honest that is all I know. I wouldn't have a clue as to what to look for as far as selecting for high altitude. What is the criteria? Do the various AI studs test for this? As far as turning out this cow is very structurally correct as have been all her calves so maybe we got lucky twice with her.

Gizmom

 

[3waycross]

3way
We are 9 ft above sea level here so elevation has not been a problem. I know you folks at higher elevations have to consider high altitude performance but to be honest that is all I know. I wouldn't have a clue as to what to look for as far as selecting for high altitude. What is the criteria? Do the various AI studs test for this? As far as turning out this cow is very structurally correct as have been all her calves so maybe we got lucky twice with her.

Gizmom

the only way to know is to PAP test them. That involves running a probe into their Pulmanary artery and checking the presure. The have to be at high altitude for at least 60 days for us to have any confidence in the test and 60% of my friends MD sired calves failed this year and they were out of dams that had already tested good for altitude.

 

[gizmom]

What are the signs of a cow that isn't tolerant of high altitude or fail the PAP test? I know the folks that bred MD they live in Ga altitude wasn't an issue for them either. I would think AI studs would test the bulls they promote for altitude but don't know if they do.

And thanks for the info I have always wanted to learn something about this, why do they call it brisket disease or is that something else?

I am sitting in a hospital waiting room so this conversation is sure helping my stress level.


Gizmom

 

[3waycross]

What are the signs of a cow that isn't tolerant of high altitude or fail the PAP test? I know the folks that bred MD they live in Ga altitude wasn't an issue for them either. I would think AI studs would test the bulls they promote for altitude but don't know if they do.

And thanks for the info I have always wanted to learn something about this, why do they call it brisket disease or is that something else?

I am sitting in a hospital waiting room so this conversation is sure helping my stress level.


Gizmom

The signs vary some but they usually get to looking real unthrifty and shyting green water and can have some swelling in the throat and brisket. They can be saved if it is recognized very early and we get them to lower country real quick.

Hope the hospital thing is turning out OK. Will send some prayers your way!!!!!

 

[gizmom]

Is that why it is called brisket disease?

The prayers are appreciated and needed. My sister has been placed on life support, they are trying to wake her but so far she isn't responding. Again thanks I believe in the power of prayer, I also believe that God has a plan and sometimes we don't understand what that plan is. My mother would say that is when we don't understand that is when faith comes in. I don't know how this will end but I know that God is in control and He doesn't make any mistakes.

Gizmom

 

[jscunn]

Gizmom,
First and most importantly I am praying for your sister and your family.

I say stick to your plan, it seems that in the past few years your customers are buying in to your plan as well. Good luck and stay true to your program. Good luck we still have yet to take each other on tours. We need to do that, maybe this spring, it is just sooo far to your place.

 

[gizmom]

We do need to do the tour you had some sweet looking heifers out front last week tell me a bit about them who is their sire Chism?

Gizmom

 

[jscunn]

Thanks for the compliments. They are pretty good, ready to get them bred and out on ryegrass.

The blacks are all the replacement heifers, most baldies are going to be bred and hopefully sold. Some of the baldies, including the brown baldie will be fed out and sold.

The blacks are all by different sires.. Trust, Forward, DOC, CC&7, Sedalia, and Sydgen 2400 Security 4558. One of each, consistent huh??

The DOC and Sedalia were purchased from Sydgen this fall, they will be the green tags. The Sedalia is a January and will be bred later, the rest will be bred next month. I really like the DOC, she goes back to Forward, then EXT is the MGGS.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Prayers go out to your sister & you. God's will.

You had a GREAT day!! Averaged over 13 embryos!! And I hope everyone noticed you are flushing OLDER cows that have HISTORY in your herd.

 

[chippie]

Prayers lifted for your sister.

Hope that all your cows stick and you get the calves you are hoping for. I admire your breeding program. You do what many just talk about.

 

[gizmom]

First and foremost thank you all for the prayers please keep them coming. My sister is still on the ventilator but actually breathing on her own. They still haven't been able to wake her, a brain scan showed activity now they are checking her heart. To make matters worse they admitted her husband yesterday afternoon. They were on vacation when they got sick this is just crazy. The good news is that their oldest son got in last night and sent me home. I am at the farm today cooking for my nephews. That is the only thing I can do for them at this point other than prayer and I am sure praying hard.

Gizmom

 

[slick4591]

Sorry about you sis and BIL. I'll help out with the prayers.