Pic of latest donor addition

[RafterD]

Not sure this will work, but at least I read the directions first. This is our latest donor that we added and flushed her as a virgin. Can't tell much about her from the pic but it is one of my favorites. The hiefer is out of Predestined on a really nice Pride Family cow.

 

[rocket2222]

From what you can see, she looks like one heck of a nice heifer. I guess flushing as got to be cheap enough so a cow doesn't need to prove her worth before she's flushed and can be called a donor anymore.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

if she don't have any legs, she might be hard too flush ;-) but the rest of her looks good

 

[RafterD]

Well, we all have differences of opinion and different objectives. When you have two or three successive generations of proven donor dams plus the best AI sires loading up your pedigree, what is the chance that your not going to carry on that tradition? Is it a risk? For sure. Ben Eggers of Sydgen told me that although he rarely flushes a virgin hiefer, its not because he ever doubts what her performance or her calves performance will be, it is the fact that often you get zero viable embryos which makes the process very costly and very risky. On the very best hiefers, worst case basis if I get some ET calves on the ground that work, the price of her successive generations has just gone up. If something unexpected happens and she dies from a freak accident or something, I have some of her embryos in the tank in the event that I want to carry on that line but can't because she is six foot under. On the flip side of the equation, all of our donors carry a natural calve each year, often bred the same way as the flush. If we have a volume buyer that wants 2-4 bulls that are full brothers and the same age, we can provide them through flushes. If the flushes don't turn out the way we thought, we have 2-4 steers that are the best matched set you can find in the stockyards . So you can be critical of someones operation all you want, but unless you have something nice to say....remember, opinions are just like excrement delivery glands, everyones got one.

 

[RafterD]

if she don't have any legs, she might be hard too flush ;-) but the rest of her looks good

It takes a very short embryologist... :lol2:

 

[S&S Farms]

She seems to be miss tagged, the tag says white and she does not look like a charolais :cboy:

Jeff

 

[Angus In Texas]

If something unexpected happens and she dies from a freak accident or something, I have some of her embryos in the tank in the event that I want to carry on that line but can't because she is six foot under.

That is precisely why we try to flush young cows that have a promising pedigree behind them at an early age. Call it insurance if you will. But we never flush a virgin heifer..... too many problems associated with getting them to breed for the first natural calf coupled with the typically low output. I have flushed two first calf heifers and have the embryos in the tank and am now letting them raise their second and third calves and will continue to breed them for natural calves and eventually will put the embryos in.

 

[Hay]

Its just fair for the heifer to let her raise a calf before flusing as she may never have a very good calf after she has been flushed. The way the pedigrees in Angus are going you are taking the highest risk today. Do some things to elimate your risk.
For my meger experience with ET calves its still the calf that we see. Of the flushes that I have been interested in on a good flush their maybe two good calves (at the most) the remained are just calves, sometimes poor calves compaired to the herd. Decide what you are going to do build a herd from the gentics you have or sell the Embryos to the dealers in that play that makert. If I was to embryo a cow today I would choose my very best young COW and flush her to a bull from a herd that is breeding cattle that I like. I would never use semen from AI studs as those bulls are used anywhere everywhere. If I was selling ETs I would do the oppisite trying to buy cows that are realted to something up close popular and breed to popular bulls.
I really cringe on putting in a embryo into a reg cow reiept when knowing that cow herself may bring in a good calf bred to the same bull the embryo is sired by.
I am still a sucker though..This fall I bought a ET bred heifer choice of 4 flush mates
this from a internet bidding service. The sale book had a nice photo of her flush mate sister lot A when they came in the ring you could not see the cattle only their backs. Lot A did not show up in the ring lot C sold I bought Lot B and then Lot D sold.
The heifers were out of one of the highest AND proven double pathfinder family availabe. Cow photo and granddam photo about a materinal as they get. When lot B made it here is is about the most direct oppsite of what I thought it would. Still a big growthly heifer but alot different that what I was expecting by all the promtion on her.

 

[Australian]

What breed is she? You can't really tell these days with all the black lookalikes about.
Colin

 

[dun]

What breed is she? You can't really tell these days with all the black lookalikes about.
Colin

Maybe a black Hereford but without the pesky white markings