What's the best Breed or Cross to use as a Recip

[HughesFamilyCattle]

I assume maybe a Angus/Jersey cross? Which is hard to find without having been a
stunted growth bottle calf.

 

[Nesikep]

I think a shorthorn cross would do well... Some of my favourite momma cows are SHxGelbvieh... The SH give you good maternal calving ease, they can put any calf you want on the ground and have the milk to raise a calf right.. the GV would be irrelevant to a recip cow though.. I like it for the added roundness/meatiness it adds to the calf otherwise

 

[branguscowgirl]

It depends on what kind of embryo you are using. Expected BW ect. I am putting a low birth weight Brangus embryo in a 6 year old Angus cow. The ideal age is 3-5 years, with no previous calving problems, good udder and milk production ect.. A Jersey wouldn't work for my Brangus embryos because of their pelvic size.

 

[bse]

Most of mine are Angus based a little Sim mixed in a few. A few purebreds which if they are pretty good is best because you get true EPDs not interiums.
Someone had posted in another thread about the jerseys and johne's disease, which makes alot of sense. Get the best you can theres alot of time and money invested in them.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

We put our embryos in our best simmental cows. If you are paying extra for those genetics, then why not put them in your best cows?

 

[Nesikep]

Agreed FSR.. though I wouldn't necessarily put them in a purebred cow, I would certainly want the recip to be up to snuff in the calving ease, milk and ATTITUDE departments... How pretty she is or whatever wouldn't matter too much otherwise

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Agreed FSR.. though I wouldn't necessarily put them in a purebred cow, I would certainly want the recip to be up to snuff in the calving ease, milk and ATTITUDE departments... How pretty she is or whatever wouldn't matter too much otherwise

That is what I mean by cow, Nesi. She can raise the best calf. All I have is purebred and half bloods, and I am not buying more cows to put in eggs. So I take the cows that do the best job at being a cow, and put an embryo in her. ALL of my cows have to be good enough to AI at least, I just take the ones that have average AI calves genetically and use them to raise an embryo for me. Either way, I win.

 

[cow pollinater]

Depending on where you're at in relation to the people raising them, there are a lot of jersey/simangus heifers being used as recips and from what I hear that's the way to go. They don't have quite enough frame to be valuable feeders so that's how they get marketed. There are tens of thousands of them in Texas from what I understand.
Despite popular belief, jerseys can handle BIG calves. They are very resilient cattle. In fact there was a study where holstien embryos were put into jersey heifers and vice versa and the holstien heifers still had calving problems while the jerseys cranked out the holstein calves. About the only reason NOT to use a jersey is the metabolic problems associated with trying to run one on grass.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Good to know about the Jersey cross cows CP.
I had asked my embryologist about using Jerseys and he told me no.

 

[midtncattle]

Santa Gertrudis / Hereford

 

[RegCowman]

A good Recip is a proven cow registered or not that does a great job raising a calf -- we use mostly Angus or UltraBlacks as Recips. She has to be a good one to raise a great calf. We normally pay commercial cattlemen $1800/head for weaned ET calves from our Donors. My expectations are high, as we are talking about an ET calf walking over the scales at 205 days weighing in the 7's no creep.
With these kind of numbers it is no problem --but still need a great Recip

 

[WalnutCrest]

The best recips are the ones who are adapted to the environment that you are expecting them to carry the pregnancy and raise the calf. Don't import recips from another part of the country and expect them to work on your place.