Paying over $2000 for a pregnant recip really isn't that expensive if you really look at it. The embryo place has to buy the open cow and feed her for a while till they usually put the embryo in her. They have to do all the heat watching and preg checking on them to make sure they are bred. They then keep them around till they are 60-90 days bred and preg check them again and then the buyer can pick them up.The embryo centers aren't really making a whole lot of money on these cows when you take into count the feed expense to keep them around, everything that goes into putting the embryo in and the cost of labor for them. All the buyer has to do is pick the cow up. If a person can't afford to pay that much for a pregnant recip then you might be in the wrong business, because those embryo calves should be something that you can sell for pretty good money and make your money back easy. Then you have a cow left over that you can breed, put an embryo in or sell. I think if you look at the big picture that really is pretty cheap.