sexed embroys

[robdogtn]

I am new to "good" cattle. Sold all of our cattle 4 yrs ago to re-fence and basically start all over with better genetics. This better genetics is complicated.... So now I am looking for cows or heifers and I was at a sale that had cows with heifers on side and bred back guaranteed heifer. How do they do that and what does it cost?

 

[sizmic]

We use ultrasound, just like humans. Every now and then you get one that is wrong, just like humans. Thats were the guarantee comes in to play. I figure it costs around $30 a head.

Sizmic

 

[robdogtn]

I understand that part, I do my horses to check for pregnancey. I thought they were sexing after they flushed a donor cow and could somehow sex an embro and then place that "sex'd embro" in a recip cow.

Can they do that?

 

[regolith]

Using sexed semen gives a high level of accuracy. But it's prohibitively expensive.

In my dairy catalogue it's about twice the cost of normal semen, and there's a slightly lower conception rate. I figured I might as well just mate four cows instead of two at the same cost, same number of heifers.
I'd be pretty sure they can sex an embryo, but whether they can do it without killing that embryo - I don't know.

 

[Cattleman200]

Embryos can be sexed but Im pretty sure it has to be done before they are frozen. After that process they do indeed put the embryo in a recip either fresh or after it has been frozen and thawed and hope it takes. Also like sizmic said there is a time frame during the pregnancy I think usually around 50-75 days that they can ultrasound and sex the calf. What amazes me is that the embryos are good for years as long as the container that are in is kept in good condition. I know someone in Oklahoma that had one 17 years frozen, put it in and got a heifer calf out of it.

Circle H Ranch