Would You Flush

Help Support Steer Planet:

Will

Well-known member
Joined
May 7, 2007
Messages
744
Location
Jay Ok
I have a cow that is who is around eight years old.  She has averaged a little over $3000 on her last 4 calves.  She has never been AIed.  I have never flushed a cow and was thinking about flushing her,  she is never the cow everyone picks out but she looks good.  She goes back to Eionmor Mr Gus and Deerpark Improver 57 on the cow side and she is out of Mr impact Shaker.  How do you guys determin which cow gets flushed if any?  I have never been a big fan of flushing.  I think their are way to many cows being flushed today.
 

kanshow

Well-known member
Joined
May 24, 2007
Messages
2,660
Location
Kansas
Her age won't hurt her flushing ability.  If you wonder if it is worth it for you to actually flush her - you are the one who knows the value of her & her progeny. 

 

Davis Shorthorns

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 8, 2008
Messages
1,872
Location
Kansas
kanshow said:
Her age won't hurt her flushing ability.  If you wonder if it is worth it for you to actually flush her - you are the one who knows the value of her & her progeny.   

Took the words right out of my mouth or in this case my fingers.  Now are you planning on keeping the embryos or are you thinking about selling them???  If it is a animal that you want more offspring out of then flush her and keep them in your herd. 
 

ShowmanQ

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
808
Location
Ohio
I would have to say that you are the only person who can make the decision. However, if her last 4 calves have averaged $3,000 and she has never been AI'd I would say that if it were me I would give it a shot. If you get her flushed and it altogether costs you $1,000 and she sticks 2 eggs in recips and the calves make it all the way through, saying they are only $1,000 calves doubles your money you had in flushing her and chances are you are going to have some eggs in the tank. At 18 years old she is not getting any younger, and chances are she is not going to be gaining anymore reproductive value than she already has. If you value her in your herd and would like to have some offsrping, I see flushing her as a great option. Who knows, 15 years down the road you may find yourself in a situation where her offspring could really rake in the big bucks, you would have a few chilling out (no pun intended ;)) in the tank.
JMO
Q
 

aj

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 5, 2006
Messages
6,420
Location
western kansas
I am also thinking about flushing a cow.She is a pretty small framed Shorthorn cow.She is the kind that would have been laughed out of the showring. She gets fat on snow and air. Her offspring won't sell for big bucks and they won't win any shows but she is unique and her offspring are valuable to me to downsize cows. I could drive from coast to coast and I doubt I could find a more common sense,easy keeping, low birth weight type cow. So far she is two for two(raised 2 durham Red bull calves-I have used the one allready). She is bred back to a different Durham Red bull this year. I think these genetics are unique and valuable. I am not worried about being able to find a cow with Trump-Rodeo drive they are a dime a dozen.If i need to find some genetics with a ave bw of 110# and a line of 1800 # cows , I think I know where I can find them at...evrywhere. ;D
 

aj

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 5, 2006
Messages
6,420
Location
western kansas
If you flush a cow ....I assume you fertilize with only one sire. Or could you flush using two bulls. For instance...flush a Shorthorn cow using both a Red Angus sire and a shorthorn sire? Thanks in advance.
 

Malinda

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 16, 2007
Messages
160
Will,

To register calves out of a flush, you will need to get the cow TH/PHA tested and DNA. (Is she a Shorthorn?) If you are going to keep the calves you may not be concerned about TH/PHA, but if you want to market the embryos or the offspring positive TH/PHA might affect their marketability. For what it costs to harvest embryos, you want to be sure of  marketability.

If you are going to use a sire that has never been used on her, you might get a natural calf out of that mating to see what you get.....again thinking of marketability. Keep in mind that one calf is still no guarantee, but it is a barometer. In an ideal world name recognition of your cow and the bull should not matter...just the quality of the calves....but name recognition is important in marketing.

The market is getting flooded with embryos and there are a lot of $150-$200 embryos out there. Selling them at that price just doesn't make enough money to fool with the aggravation. Please understand I am in no way implying that your cow does not have good calves, it's just that you will have a lot of competition if you try to sell the embryos.

I have always said that flushing is not for the faint of heart. It is a challenge.

Whatever you decide, I wish you the best.

Malinda
 

Will

Well-known member
Joined
May 7, 2007
Messages
744
Location
Jay Ok
The impact shaker is the bull Mike stephens had such luck with.  The Mr Gus is the oldest of the Mr gus's that was used in Canada and very little in the US.  I think he sired Studers Pretender, but not sure.   

As far as flushing here I would probably just try to line up 6-10 recips and put them in fresh.  I do not have the name, budget,or time to try and promote embryo's.

AJ I would be interested in seeing some pictures of your Durham Reds Sired calves. 
 

Chris Bingham

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 25, 2008
Messages
165
Location
Chickasha, Oklahoma
When you said Mr Impact Shaker that is who I thought you were talking about. I am from Chickasha and showed Shorthorns Mr. and Mrs. Stephens raised. That is where I bought my cows from. The Mr. Impact Shaker daughters are amazing. I have a bull calf out of one that is lined up to sire the next breeding season. She would probably be a good flush.
 

Will

Well-known member
Joined
May 7, 2007
Messages
744
Location
Jay Ok
Chris Bingham said:
When you said Mr Impact Shaker that is who I thought you were talking about. I am from Chickasha and showed Shorthorns Mr. and Mrs. Stephens raised. That is where I bought my cows from. The Mr. Impact Shaker daughters are amazing. I have a bull calf out of one that is lined up to sire the next breeding season. She would probably be a good flush.
Some of our best cows came from the Stephens.  Great Family and great cattle.  We used an impact shaker son for several years that was probably the best bull we ever used. 
 

Will

Well-known member
Joined
May 7, 2007
Messages
744
Location
Jay Ok
I do not have a picture of her, I do have apicture of her last calf.  I would post it but it is to large so if you like I can email you I would just need your address.
 

kanshow

Well-known member
Joined
May 24, 2007
Messages
2,660
Location
Kansas
AJ - That's the kind of cow that I was talking about..  You know her value to you.    Yes, just one sire per flush, well I guess you could AI with 2 bulls but not sure why you would want to do that.     
 

knabe

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 7, 2007
Messages
13,639
Location
Hollister, CA
flushing could be viewed as time constrained linebreeding if you kept some with extreme culling.  all to often though, the flush epd is probably somewhat overrated as culling criteria probably change.
 
Top