Question on flushing old cows

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Hollywood27

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Apr 6, 2009
Messages
111
I'm looking to purchase a 15 year old cow, she has raised some whoppers and I would hate to lose her genetics.  What can I expect by flushing this old of cow if she is in great shape?
Thanks
 

Shady Lane

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Mar 30, 2009
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515
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Saskatchewan Canada
There are a lot of factors at play here, some of course will be directly related to her age but more so wha kind of condition the cow is in and what her fertillity to date has been like.

When did she last calve? What has her track record for breeding back? Has she always calved on time and bred back easily? (showing that she has continued to be fertile into her "old age") Has she been flushed before? If so, was she a consistnt embryo producer?

I have succesfully flushed "old cows" in the past with good success.

Meanwhile, I have also flushed some much younger cows that would not produce anymore and were very diffiult to rebreed or get to be consistnt egg producers.

If she calved this year, had no traumatic calving problems and has cycled since calving my oppinion would be it's definitely worth a shot. A good ET vet would likely palpate her and/or ultrasound her and tell you if they thought she was a reasonable candidate to be an embryo producer from a fertillity stand point atleast.

Good luck!
 

Hollywood27

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Joined
Apr 6, 2009
Messages
111
Never been flushed before and has had a calf every year.  She calved this year in early April with no problems and she was in heat just a few days ago.
 

Freddy

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Mar 31, 2007
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2,720
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North central -- Nebraska on highway 183 - 30 mi
Had a friend of mine who bought a ten year old cow from me, raised 2-3 calves ,was a very good cow , decided to flush her , never done before, got 30+ eggs, couldn't believe it ......... quite a few of themm were no. one's .  It will work.....
 

justintime

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May 26, 2007
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4,346
Location
Saskatchewan Canada
I have successfully flushed a few older cows, and have found that unless they have been flushed to death when younger, many of them flush very well. There are some younger cows, as well as older cows, that do not respond well to flushing. I have a 9 year old cow that we have got 152 grade 1 embryos out of in 6 flushes in the past 7 months. She then settled to the first AI service. That is a long ways from being a 15 year old cow, but all the same, she is older than many donor cows. As long as her health is good, and she is cycling normally, I would suggest you try her. Using older proven cows seems to make more sense to me than flushing a virgin heifer
 

CAB

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Joined
Mar 5, 2007
Messages
5,607
Location
Corning,Iowa
We just flushed a 14 year old cow this week for the first time. She has been getting settled either AI or via the bull for the last 2 season and carrying a calf 5/6 months then coming up open. She was cycling pretty much every 26 days with an occasional 27 day thrown in just to keep it interesting. We did the flush Tuesday and got 1 good embryo and 4 degenerates. We are going to flush her again, the good news being that she did produce eggs. If she pretty much bombs the next go around, we will more than likely cut our losses.
 
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