Warrior General Games

I was talking to my chiropractor this morning and a local farm came up. He told me that their main gig is to harvest eggs from cows and sell them somewhere in Europe.

cowpoker, is this a big industry? Is cow IVF fairly common? Is it maybe how the genes from prize heifers are passed along without risking the cow herself to pregnancy?

normally i would say that someone trying to get eggs from cows must have spent their childhood on asphalt

and you missed your chance to call this thread "cow eggs"

think of the marketing

While not something done all that often, I can imagine it's done with some prize heifers. I know it's been done with bulls for many decades.

Originally posted by Venkman
I was talking to my chiropractor this morning and a local farm came up. He told me that their main gig is to harvest eggs from cows and sell them somewhere in Europe.

cowpoker, is this a big industry? Is cow IVF fairly common? Is it maybe how the genes from prize heifers are passed along without risking the cow herself to pregnancy?

It's a big dollar industry but without looking it up, 90% of your beef cattle are still bred the old fashioned way by a bull. 10% are bred artificially, most by simply inseminating bull semen in to cows that are cycling but with elite genetics, there is a huge dollar market for both fertilized embryos and flushed eggs.

AI is more popular with dairy operations and the ET (embryo transplant) is as well.

Typically, you would bid on embryos in lots of 4 and there is usually a guarantee of 2 confirmed pregnancies if the procedure is performed by someone who is licensed. If you have a cow that produced a bull that sold for $100,000+, you can continue normal breeding and hope to get 7-8 more calves out her in a lifetime or you can flush her and get 7-8 grade 1 embryos out of her in a few months. Typically, you'll set up a cow to flush, then breed her AI and you can flush her again. That seems to be the most effective or efficient way to do it for a normal beef cow. The dairy cows can probably be flushed more often.

As much as AI changed the game for cattle genetics, ET or IVF has kicked up 5x for what can be accomplished genetically. When you add the 50K genetic tests, you can get data back on a 3 week old calf and have the same idea of her genetic potential that would have taken 10+ years to gather the old way. When I started, I had a couple of bloodlines that I was very excited about and some of them came to fruition while others did not so you might have spent 10 years breeding a certain way and once the data is there, you have to change it up because they weren't what you thought they would be.

The top angus bulls in AI stud, meaning they collect semen can gross several million dollars a year and they can do that for a few years and some of them even sell for a decade but not at that level.

A high end embryo package can cost $60,000+ and I would compare it to the NFL draft. Some of them work out, some of them are just normal cattle and you have invested $60,000 in to a critter that is only worth $2,000.

Again, not high volume stuff but they can be high dollar.

It's even higher $ when dealing with famous Rodeo bulls's seed. That shit can really bring massive $.

Originally posted by Theo Wizzago
It's even higher $ when dealing with famous Rodeo bulls's seed. That shit can really bring massive $.

I've heard that but I've never really followed it.



https://www.drovers.com/article/angus-bull-smashes-world-record-price-selling-151-million

meaty thread imo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1S5YVJs_XU

Just bought one of his sons, was an ET (embryo transplant) calf, looks phenomenal at 15 months old.

Originally posted by Cowpoker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1S5YVJs_XU

Just bought one of his sons, was an ET (embryo transplant) calf, looks phenomenal at 15 months old.

how much does that sort of thing run?

Originally posted by Venkman
how much does that sort of thing run?

The bull in the video is the sire, 2/3 ownership in him sold for $580,000. Basically the breeder retains 1/3 ownership in the revenue and buyer possesses the bull and has 2/3 of the revenue and often a group of ranches or investors will go together and purchase the 2/3 ownership.

The bull would then go to an A.I. stud facility and they start collecting semen. The production costs of collecting, freezing and storing bull semen are relatively low per unit and each 1/2 cc straw can sell for anywhere between $20 to $100+ per straw and a trendy new bull might sell 5,000 units a year. The other source of income is a breeding certificate, it almost works like a patent. If I bought a unit of semen, breed a registered cow, get a heifer or bull calf that I want to register, I need to purchase a breeding certificate to have the rights to use the pedigree, usually $25-$50.

The reason breeders buy semen and certificates is because they are now selling sons out of this bull and so far this year, his sons are selling for a premium. You might sell 50 bulls and his offspring might top your sale for $8-$50,000 a piece. There are typically a half dozen or more hot, trendy bulls per year and some that will stay hot for several years.

The major packing plants are shutting down, took $20 per cwt off the cattle market immediately. JBS and Tyson are going to make a killing here when they restart the chain.

Originally posted by Cowpoker
The major packing plants are shutting down, took $20 per cwt off the cattle market immediately. JBS and Tyson are going to make a killing here when they restart the chain.

Oh the irony of that statement.