Purchasing a Pregnancy

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torogmc81

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Has anyone bought a pregnancy before from a sale/private treaty. How does it exactly work?

For example, in the sale book it has a Heifer Pregnancy, due 8-16-16. Does that mean the seller is calving the calf for the buyer (raise till weaning)? If so, do they usually ET and use a donor? Depends on situation? Am I on the right track or totally off the beaten path and misunderstand??

If someone could correct me or expand on this subject, much appreciated

Thanks Justin
 
I've never purchased a pregnancy, but I've sold some. The buyer is buying a recip cow confirmed bred; sometimes the pregnancy is sexed (i.e., you know you're getting a heifer or bull, per either the embryo used (if sorted/reverse-sorted semen was used) and/or ultrasound check ... but sometimes it's not. Once the buyer buys the pregnancy, the buyer pays for the recipient cow. Depending on the situation and the terms of the deal, some times the buyer takes possession of the recip to calve out the calf or the seller retains the recip (until weaning, at which time that animal is the buyers) and has the responsibility for calving out the calf. I've done both sorts of deals.

Sometimes you can "rent a uterus" and put your embryo in someone else's cow and then you pay them for any/all live calves born and weaned. I've never done a deal like that.
 
We have purchased a pregnancy a confirmed heifer. Calf was in a recip paid a pretty penny for the pregnancy. The best thing we got out of the deal was the recip, she is still working in the herd. The embryo calf that was in her when she arrived was a putz never amounted to anything after giving her a second chance and getting another knot of a calf she got a trip to town.

Gizmom
 
We kinda rent cows for recipes now, works out great for everyone, we pay for all syncing, then to put them in. Pay steer price for all calves at 205 days and give 30 day price guaratee. We don't tie our cows up, and it gets there cows synced up, so the ones that don't stick should cycle back in 21 days for them.
 
bse

We were a cooperative herd for three years back in 2000, 2001 and 2003. We had the same kind of deal the farm put their eggs into our cows, we had a contract the calves had to meet a min weight at weaning. We had a set price for the calves, which helped us in asset management. It was a good deal for us and the farm we co-opted with. At that time calf prices were low so knowing we were going to get a premium on the calves was a blessing. That program got us over the hump financially while we were trying to build our purebred operation.

Gizmom
 
I have a few concerns about buying a pregnancy including:
-there is so much variation within full-siblings that I question whether I will get a calf that I like or will it be a dink
-will the calf be born alive and get weaned. This is especially a concern since many of the recips are purchased at sale barns with little known history as to their ability to calve un-assisted, their willingness to accept their calf, their milking ability, etc. There is a reason that the cow went to the sale barn and many cows that are sold at the sale barn are there because they didn't perform for their previous owner.
-will the recip cow bring a disease to my herd (heal worts, Johne's, etc.).

For me, I would rather play it safe and purchase a live weaned or yearling calf rather than an unknown pregnancy.
 
UG

UG":3k8hjp3o said:
I have a few concerns about buying a pregnancy including:
-there is so much variation within full-siblings that I question whether I will get a calf that I like or will it be a dink
-will the calf be born alive and get weaned. This is especially a concern since many of the recips are purchased at sale barns with little known history as to their ability to calve un-assisted, their willingness to accept their calf, their milking ability, etc. There is a reason that the cow went to the sale barn and many cows that are sold at the sale barn are there because they didn't perform for their previous owner.
-will the recip cow bring a disease to my herd (heal worts, Johne's, etc.).

For me, I would rather play it safe and purchase a live weaned or yearling calf rather than an unknown pregnancy.

As far as variation with full sibs our experience proves that can happen, as far as bringing disease into your herd that is why you should always have a quarenteen period for all new animals introduced into your herd. Our experience is limited to one pregnancy purchase but as stated earlier the best thing we got was the recip she is just a super good cow, always raising a calf at the top end of the herd. We do purchase embryos and put them into our own recips, we have had some really nice herd additions doing this but we have also had some that just didn't pan out, but they end up getting sold by the pound. Not all makings are going to work the key is don't be afraid to cull no matter how impressive the pedigree.

Gizmom
 

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