Flushing Advice

[Richnm]

I am going to flush to Connealy Confidence Plus. This will be my first attempt. I have "newer" genetics, a Power Play heifer , Raindance heifer , or older genetics an old Dinosaur ribbed Saugahatchee 17 year old cow. Here is what I don't know.
Should I do a conventional flush or IVF?
Will heifers produce more or less embryos?
Quality of embryos heifer vs old cow?
Do embryos have to be a #1 grade to work? I am going to freeze for a later date.
thanks.

 

[WinterSpringsFarm]

I will not, and would not conventional flush a heifer. Its pretty tough on their repro parts. You could IVF one though. That being said she would have to be a VERY VERY special heifer for me to flush. Not knowing what they will look like or how they will reproduce makes it hard for me to flush a virgin heifer.

I like IVF because I can get one bred and then flush her, I have had 1 bad experience with a conventional flush and then not getting the cow rebred and that was enough for me to not want to do it any more. However, certain circumstances may change my mind. Its all about how you want to manage one I suppose.

You can freeze anything you want, the likelihood of it making a calf gets smaller as the grades drop off. I have no issues freezing a grade 2, and honestly notice no difference in my conception rate between Grade 1 and 2 frozen embryos. I rarely implant any fresh because when I IVF a donor everything is usually 60-120 days bred, including the donor.

 

[Richnm]

I will not, and would not conventional flush a heifer. Its pretty tough on their repro parts. You could IVF one though. That being said she would have to be a VERY VERY special heifer for me to flush. Not knowing what they will look like or how they will reproduce makes it hard for me to flush a virgin heifer.

I like IVF because I can get one bred and then flush her, I have had 1 bad experience with a conventional flush and then not getting the cow rebred and that was enough for me to not want to do it any more. However, certain circumstances may change my mind. Its all about how you want to manage one I suppose.

You can freeze anything you want, the likelihood of it making a calf gets smaller as the grades drop off. I have no issues freezing a grade 2, and honestly notice no difference in my conception rate between Grade 1 and 2 frozen embryos. I rarely implant any fresh because when I IVF a donor everything is usually 60-120 days bred, including the donor.

That being said have you IVF a virgin heifer?

 

[WinterSpringsFarm]

That being said have you IVF a virgin heifer?

I have not. I had a red angus heifer last year that I was very tempted to try but I decided not to.

 

[gizmom]

I will not, and would not conventional flush a heifer. Its pretty tough on their repro parts. You could IVF one though. That being said she would have to be a VERY VERY special heifer for me to flush. Not knowing what they will look like or how they will reproduce makes it hard for me to flush a virgin heifer.

I like IVF because I can get one bred and then flush her, I have had 1 bad experience with a conventional flush and then not getting the cow rebred and that was enough for me to not want to do it any more. However, certain circumstances may change my mind. Its all about how you want to manage one I suppose.

You can freeze anything you want, the likelihood of it making a calf gets smaller as the grades drop off. I have no issues freezing a grade 2, and honestly notice no difference in my conception rate between Grade 1 and 2 frozen embryos. I rarely implant any fresh because when I IVF a donor everything is usually 60-120 days bred, including the donor.

I won't flush a heifer, no matter what the genetics they may be excellent but for me it has to be a combination of things for a cow to earn donor status. Of course she has to have the genetics but she also has to have produced several calves with a ratio over 100 and have the phenotype I want to propagate. Flushing is an expensive process so I want to get the best calves I can, heck the cattle business is enough of a gamble without flushing heifers lol. Just one old ladies opinion not that it's worth much. We will be putting eggs in on Wednesday and then turning a bull out with that group on Thursday after that we are in coast mode just checking daily to see that all the bulls are getting the job done. We will be putting embryos in out of cows that have proven themselves so hopefully will have good results.

 

[Franke]

From what our embryologist told me is the IVF cycles are usually very consistent between flushes where as conventional can vary more. I tried a conventional flush with a heifer and got zero because of an infection. Turned around and did 2 IVF cycles and got 10 and 11 embryos frozen. She is a fall and held her over for spring breeding. #1's and #2's have been about the same conception... have gotten a few more heifers out of #2's so far but a smaller sample. If I had the option I would go with what I know(older cow) and do IVF. I don't think the quality or number varies between age as much as individual.