vcsf
Well-known member
Most embryo transfer technicians would like a cow to be at least 60 days post calving and they need to have had a natural heat before starting to set up to flush and the same applies to setting up recip cows. Also for the long term good of the donor cow most people want to wait at least 60 days between flushes to try to prevent any reproductive damage.
Carlson, I hope you are not offended by what I am going to say and take it the way it is intended but I really believe you should reconsider your plans. Given the turmoil you have gone through trying to pick bulls to breed your cows to and the fact you have said you have a small herd and how each mating is so important and also your lack of knowledge of the process I really do not believe you are ready for an embryo program on the scale you are thinking. I am not sure you truly understand the expense and possible pitfalls involved. The best advice I can give you is to find an embryo transfer center close to you and ask them your questions about timing and also get them to explain the costs to you and then decide if you really want to proceed. Remember you can end up spending lots of money and not getting any calves or no marketable ones.
My own first experience flushing a cow was with a mating I really wanted heifers from. We flushed the cow and got a bunch of degenerated eggs that were no good and only two that were freezable. I got lucky and both eggs resulted in pregnancies but I got two bull calves that I ended up selling on the market. The ET vet also told me we should not flush the cow again. I chose to ignore this and tried flushing her again a couple of years later and got about 20 good eggs on one flush and thirty on another then tried again and got three. So it is really hard to predict what will happen and often it is not what you would hope.
Carlson, I hope you are not offended by what I am going to say and take it the way it is intended but I really believe you should reconsider your plans. Given the turmoil you have gone through trying to pick bulls to breed your cows to and the fact you have said you have a small herd and how each mating is so important and also your lack of knowledge of the process I really do not believe you are ready for an embryo program on the scale you are thinking. I am not sure you truly understand the expense and possible pitfalls involved. The best advice I can give you is to find an embryo transfer center close to you and ask them your questions about timing and also get them to explain the costs to you and then decide if you really want to proceed. Remember you can end up spending lots of money and not getting any calves or no marketable ones.
My own first experience flushing a cow was with a mating I really wanted heifers from. We flushed the cow and got a bunch of degenerated eggs that were no good and only two that were freezable. I got lucky and both eggs resulted in pregnancies but I got two bull calves that I ended up selling on the market. The ET vet also told me we should not flush the cow again. I chose to ignore this and tried flushing her again a couple of years later and got about 20 good eggs on one flush and thirty on another then tried again and got three. So it is really hard to predict what will happen and often it is not what you would hope.
