best recipient cows for embryos

Is there a breed or an age of cow that works  best for recipient cows for embryos. Your opinion please.

I've had good luck using my own cows for recips.  I know their health status, their mothering ability, and their temperament.  Plus, I avoid paying for expensive recips.  You lose on the cow's genetic contribuition for the year, but I would hope that the ET calves I'm getting will be better than the ones the cow would have on their own.  If not, then I'm transplanting the wrong cow. 

mature brahman or brahman x

Show stopper 95 said:

mature brahman or brahman x

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Maybe for Texas, but anywhere else in the world either a good Simi/Angus, or my personal favorite a good smoke (char/angus). We were discussing this today, and think about it. Most of the smokes you see are deep, thick, milk, good mommas, and most I come across are pretty efficient.

My vote is for a middle aged spotted yellow and white Simmental from years ago!  These girls are tough to find now though.

I have never used em, but know a guy that crosses Brahman, Shorthorn, Angus, and Simmis with Holsteins to produce recip cows and the people I know that have put embryos in them have been really pleased.  The best ones I have ever actually used where Braunveigh on Commerical Angus

does it even matter what kind of cow you use for recips?

I used Braunvieh cows. They have great milk and accepted the embryos well. They also will work in any environment.

What ever you use you will need to make sure they are in good health and have had all the shots they need. Make sure they get proper nutrition.

We have had very consistent sucess with Gelbvieh & Balancer(Gelbvieh Angus or Red Angus Hybrids) They take eggs well and Milk very well.  Best Recips we have used.

thanks for the advice is there an age that works better.

I usually use cows from my own herd and I always make sure I put embryos in cow that I KNOW can get bred, I usually use Gelbvieh, and Balancers also, plus I have Angus so I also use those.  I have had good luck with them taking embryos and I put in my own embryos, so if I ever question a CL then I just don't take a chance if there isn't a prominent CL.  I will say I like using my own cows because I know their health and I know how they milk and will raise a calf.  When I first got into this I made the mistake of putting embryos in some Gelbvieh heifers, all but 1 stuck so I was thrilled....but heifers don't milk very well sometimes.  So now when I pick recipient cow, I look for good health, good milking ability and I like to use ones from ages 3-5 years, they seem to take the embryos the best and be at the peak of performance.  Good luck.

Show stopper 95 said:

mature brahman or brahman x

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Only if you know the shape of their cervix.

1) Brahman/Holstein
2) Brahman/Angus
3) Brahman/Hereford
4) SimAngus
5) Any Other CrossBred Femle

I'm thinking one of our Red Poll x Simmental cows or even throw in a bit of Red Angus for a 3 way cross cow would make awesome recips.  If you keep them red, it would be easy to tell whether the calf is an embryo or a bull bred.  If using black embryos, use a red clean-up bull.  If using red embryos, use a homo black clean-up bull.  These cows would milk like no other.  I've got a Simmy x Red Poll cow that is one of our top cows in our commercial herd.

Use the youngest most fertile cows you can get. Heifers are great as long as your eggs are going to be calving ease. I have used beef x holstein heifers lots of times as heifers and maybe up to 2nd calvers but after that you start to lose alot of fertility. Best cows I have ever used are my own cows that I know and have been around and that are not as good as the eggs you are putting in.

RedCowsRule said:

I'm thinking one of our Red Poll x Simmental cows or even throw in a bit of Red Angus for a 3 way cross cow would make awesome recips.  If you keep them red, it would be easy to tell whether the calf is an embryo or a bull bred.  If using black embryos, use a red clean-up bull.  If using red embryos, use a homo black clean-up bull.  These cows would milk like no other.  I've got a Simmy x Red Poll cow that is one of our top cows in our commercial herd.

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Or you could just use a pb char bull for clean up.

For CANsteer, I do not know about you, but if I was going to spend the money on the embryos and everything else that goes with them, I would want a cow that is sound, healthy, easy doing, with average or above average milk, and docile. If the cow is an orangutan by the time she gets through raising the calf it could be as well.