Okay back to the original topic. In March 2011, I was thrown into taking over my dads 50+ operation that emphasized in show cattle that excel in the pasture. We currently had two donor cows getting flushed. They stay at a very reputable embryo facility and it cost roughly 1500 to have her housed, fed, bred and embryos extracted. In roughly a year, I have taken our herd to a dramatic drop and now only hve 8 cows, with 3 being donors. I sell the embryos, but retain a few to get live calves every year. My lead donor is throwing anywhere from 20-30 eggs getting frozen each time and the 2nd donor is between 18-20. I dont have the finances to keep an operation like the one you are thinking.
I may only be 21, but I did pay attention at a lot of shows and sales to people talking and my dad. I would say to either buy a up and coming donor that has already produced some good calves and been flushed before or spend the money you would buy 8 or 10 and buy some damn good 2 or 3 year olds that have the ability to be donors. Remember, its not always about quanity, but retaining good quality cattle to raises for the next generations. I have a 1 yr old and as the cows are paying for themselves and i could afford a couple more cows, I would rather have 5 or 6 good quality calves every year then a bunch of better end mediocre. Not saying all operations are like that, but it took years to get them and lots of money to have many calves each year that were of good quality.
With have kids, I personally think it would be a wise decision to buy a two or three donors and start with some small ET work and see how you like it, and the older the kids get and the more interest they show, the bigger you make it. I have two brothers and I am the only one who is interested in raising and showing cattle. My dad invested a lot of money in cattle for my brothers and me, but I was the only one who wanted to go to shows and enjoyed the friendly competition. Again-this is my personal opinion, and I know my parents would have had it a little easier with us kids if all the money he spent, wasnt.
