Opinions on restarting small club calf cow herd

[dutch pride]

For sake of discussion, say I have $5000 to spend. I have a 5 cows now but not of good enough quality to produce winners.

Option #1 would be to purchase a $5000 heifer and use her as the foundation for my herd, saving females from her to gradually replace current cows.

Option #2 would be to purchase $5000 worth of embryos and use current cows as recieps. Use those heifers as replacements.

In about 5 years I would like to be able to be selling $1500 - $3000 steer calves.

If you have other ideas or options, please share them.

DLZ

 

[Jill]

I would do option #3, purchase QUALITY recips with sexed heifer pregnancies, once the calves are weaned you have the option of selling the recips to recoup part of your investment, breeding them to clubby bulls or putting embryo's back in them.

 

[mark tenenbaum]

Do the embryos-dependent upon breed I have a high end group at almost haf my cost O0

 

[savaged]

I would NOT spend it on an open heifer as you will way overpay for it.

Another option I would consider is to purchase a bred, proven consistent cow that is older (and therefore cheaper).  I've seen some great buys in these cases.  Or, buy a confirmed pregnancy or two.

To me, these options offer a very high probability of calves right away, and you can get quality.

If it were me I'd buy one $5000 bred cow, OR, two confirmed pregnancies then use those same recips if you then want to buy some embryos.

 

[SHAGGY]

Option #4, take your $5,000 and invest it somewhere else besides cattle (clapping) (lol) just kidding. A couple proven sexed pregnancies would be a good idea.

 

[vet tech]

Well if the cows you have are healthy and are good mothers and are able to calve out.....I'd say buy good embryos and put them in the cows you have..why start all the way from scratch if you don't have to?

 

[JoeBnTN]

The one thing that's not clear is how good are the 5 cows you have.  If they really aren't what you want - either from quality or genetic standpoint then, I'd sell the 5 cows and add this money to my $5000.  Then I'd go and try and find some good 3 in 1 pairs with older cows and heifer calves - look for pairs where the calf is too young to spin off.  Let's say for  argument's sake you could get $4000 for your current cows.  You could spend the $9000 on three 3 in 1 pairs and actually have 6 females for your new herd.  This spring I've seen a number of really good older pairs (cows 8 and up) sell for very reasonable prices.  Even if you only got 2-3 calves from these cows, if there genetics are sound, you can get  a much greater return on your investment.

I full agree that I would not buy an open heifer calf - too much risk  and the time to get a return is too long.

Embryos are OK, but even with great genetics not every calf is a keeper and if you don't buy sexed embryos, you're going to have to develop a market for your steers quickly

Me: I like getting something that gives me options and returns quickly - the older cows do just that.

 

[TMJ Show Cattle]

Jo B'n Tenn is right on the money on this one.It may take some gas money,but the chance of a decent return on your money is much greater.My daughters wanted to do the open heifer thing,so they could at least show at their county fair.It has worked out great for them,now in their second calving season,however I would NOT reccmend to doing it this way.Embryo's are a gamble also,because they don't always take.If you don't go the route of Joe B,I would buy pregnant heifer recips,although to get good blood,that can be very expensive also.

 

[dutch pride]

Thanks for the suggestions. Couple of questions.

Generally, what is the price difference between a heifer sexed pregnancy or an unconfirmed pregnancy of the same genetics?

What is the best way(cost and performance) to raise an embryo, put it in your own cows or someones else's? We have no experience in this.

For those of you who have purchased a flush and / or purchased embryos, which way has worked out best for you?

If you lived in South West Michigan (which we do) and were looking for a proven 5-6 year old cow, what breeders would be your top two or three to work with?

Thanks again

Doug

 

[Jill]

If you have no experience, the best thing would be to find a breeder in your area that is willing to help you, I think you're on the right track there.  I think TMJ lives not far from the area you're located in he may be able to give you some good leads on honest breeders in your area.