Pros and cons of using dairy cows to use for carrying embyos

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Shadow Hill Farm

Shadow Hill Farm

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I was wondering how many people do this and what the pros and cons are? I know there are quite a few people who use dairy cattle to put embryos in to carry the calf cause of their milking abilities. I was thinking of maybe doing this in the future and wanted to get people's input. Would it cost more to do this than what it is worth? The breeds I'm looking at to do this with is Angus and maybe do some club calves (to sell for show) as well. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
 
knabe

knabe

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What about johnes in dairy recipes?  Might want to think about that.  Kind of a proble in certain locations.
 
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DL

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Shadow Hill Farm said:
I was wondering how many people do this and what the pros and cons are? I know there are quite a few people who use dairy cattle to put embryos in to carry the calf cause of their milking abilities. I was thinking of maybe doing this in the future and wanted to get people's input. Would it cost more to do this than what it is worth? The breeds I'm looking at to do this with is Angus and maybe do some club calves (to sell for show) as well. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
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Generally not a good idea -
- many dairy cows have lost their mothering ability - will have the calf and not have a clue what to do with it
- depending on the source of your dairy cows you could run into serious infectious disease problems including Johne's disease, Mycoplasma, Salmonella etc etc
-you might consider the old adage "would you put a diamond in a garbage can"?
- some people believe that you are better off putting your eggs in good cows that you own
- a while ago not so far away a guy thought that putting his eggs in Holsteins was a good idea - he is out of business FWIW
 
rmbcows

rmbcows

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Never had any problems doing it other than the fact that one dairy cow gives enough milk to raise multipul calves.  Never had problems with them being mothers, just had problems with udders.  If I did it again, I'd let each cow raise several calves.  I'm not buying the mothering ability has been breed out of them, I've never seen one not mother her calf.  They are certainly better than some heifers I've had to deal with.
 
Shadow Hill Farm

Shadow Hill Farm

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rmbcows said:
Never had any problems doing it other than the fact that one dairy cow gives enough milk to raise multipul calves.   Never had problems with them being mothers, just had problems with udders.  If I did it again, I'd let each cow raise several calves.   I'm not buying the mothering ability has been breed out of them, I've never seen one not mother her calf.  They are certainly better than some heifers I've had to deal with.
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Thanks for the input! What type of dairy did you use? When my friends used them for embryos this was several years ago like back mid 90's. I was wondering how much it had changed and if it was worth it? I appreciate everyone's feedback and reading the discussion that was already on this. It has helped a lot.  <cowboy>
 
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kfacres

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rmbcows said:
Never had any problems doing it other than the fact that one dairy cow gives enough milk to raise multipul calves.   Never had problems with them being mothers, just had problems with udders.  If I did it again, I'd let each cow raise several calves.   I'm not buying the mothering ability has been breed out of them, I've never seen one not mother her calf.  They are certainly better than some heifers I've had to deal with.
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I agree with this... our dairy's cows are very much mothers... Sometimes due to farming season or whatever, we might leave the calf in the pasture for several days until we can get out to get it in.. especially with first calf heifers that we don't want to deal with their first time in the parlor.  Some of the old cows, actually are the meanest bovine on the place when it comes time to have a baby...  As in, run the calf down with the gator, and fly back to the barn while the cow cools down.  I've been hit far more times by the Jersey's than I have by any beef cow. 
 
Mueller Show Cattle

Mueller Show Cattle

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Like I had said in a previous post, the guy down the street runs a couple Holstein cows that are used as recips and has had great results. Don't know if the cows were ever dairy operation cows or not but they are Holstein cows. The one Holstein cow had 2 calves on her the past summer as he had a cow go down and yes she produced more than enough milk for both calves. I could see a dairy operation cow being a bad mother if all it was use to was being milked in dairy operations if any dairy cow was a bad mother that would be my guess. I am going to use dairy cow heifers that have never been in a dairy operation for recips after they have had there 1st calf.
 
rmbcows

rmbcows

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We used holsteins and couldn't say if they'd ever been in a dairy or not.  I wouldn't hesitate to use them again.
 
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