# Flushing a cow???



## BJE Farm (Mar 15, 2005)

I have a show string of Jersey and every time I turn around I am getting bet by these large Dairys. I think I have a way of getting better cows but I need to be able to flush a cow and I ain't sure how much it will cost. It is wery importent for me to be able to do this I need somebodys help... I would also like for anybody with advice or ideas to send me a message.


----------



## lilsassafrass (May 13, 2002)

Ok ...
I have no experience doing it myself , but I know a miniscule amount about it 
There is a highland breeder who for a while made large quantities of money doing with a, now mind you one supurb highland cow .. she must have 150 offspring .. also i spent my summers on a small ranch in southern ohio back in the late 70's early 80's that was the test station for embryo transplants for ohio state .. at that time they were flushing the then exotic simintal breed and implanting into angus host mothers .. I road pastures for calves .. but i did help a bit in the vet barn 
First you need to have your host mothers lined up .. today its popular to use holsteins .. because they can give so much to the growth of the embryo 
if you are going to flush you really want to do it to a top producing / comformation cow .. you will need semen .. again a very good quality bull with what you want as a sire ..then generally with drugs (all teh diferent popular ones out there such as lutalayse, the prostogalandins etc . you need your hosts and your donor cow synchronized for estrus .. the vet/techni .. will collect the significant results and implant in the ready and waiting host mothers .. I know Ez,s vet/techni comes and does it at the farm ... also be sure your breed association will register embryos .. I dont know how behind the times the the jersey assc is .. they may not 
One thig , you may get viable embryo's you may not now at one time the teh eggs were fertilized in utero .. I do not know if its done that way now , 
I know it does become a bragging right as to how many viable eggs are flushed at one time from a donor cow so i suspect teh eggs are now fertilized in vitrio 
But thats about where my knowlege ends , well as to cost I couldnt say .. 
B ut it seems to me a risky thing for teh small time breeder 
Then again , embryos are bought and sold I know when the boer goats were first brought in to US , they were brought in a s embryo's 
On Highland registrations it has to be recorded if a calf is a result of an embryo transplant .. I have seen big money paid for a scrubby crossbred cow that is carrying an embryo ... at highland auctions .. foolish in my mind as you dont know what you are going to get if anything at the end ..
but as I said I know little .. though I talk much 
but thats the basics ....that I know , things might have improved or changed with the passing of years since I was involved 

Paula
Hyde Park Farm


----------



## milkstoolcowboy (Sep 13, 2003)

I guess the economic part of this is whether it would be cheaper to just go out and buy a show animal to beat your comp, or go the route of ET? Are you trying to get a premier breeder award? 

We've been doing ET since 1982, and we sell a lot of frozen embryos. 

Costs vary widely depending on whether you want to attempt to sex the embryos, freeze embryos, use surgical or non-surgical transfer, provide your own recipients, and the viable embryo yield from a flush. Low end of cost would be around $400-500 per viable embryo, and could go over $2000 if you use a firm that provides and houses recipients.

You can get sexed semen and there are a couple different methods for sexing embryos, but your conception and yield rates will go down in each case and costs will go up. In vitro fertilization can be done, but it isn't cost-effective unless you have a truly elite donor cow.

Whatever you decide, you need to speak with other breeders to try to get a handle on the reliability of the firm/vet doing the flushing. We had very poor results when the local vets started flushing cows, but there were so many breeders wanting to flush cows a couple specialists came in and we've had better luck. You'd be well-served to read up on the process and it's commercial feasibility -- Hoard's has a decent book out on embryo transfer.


----------



## opus (Sep 15, 2004)

We've done ET's, I think you would be farther (financially) ahead buying an already made cow.


----------



## lilsassafrass (May 13, 2002)

milkstoolcowboy said:


> I guess the economic part of this is whether it would be cheaper to just go out and buy a show animal to beat your comp, or go the route of ET? Are you trying to get a premier breeder award?
> 
> We've been doing ET since 1982, and we sell a lot of frozen embryos.
> 
> ...


----------

