By Kelsie Bickett Wilson
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February 9, 2021
Now that you have followed your schedules and programmed your donors and recipients, it is important that you are prepared for flush day. Manage your cows in the same manner after your heats and breeding as you did prior to procedures. Keep your cattle on their gaining plane of nutrition and continue to utilize all management practices to minimize stress. On actual day of collection, please have your donors up prior to arrival in a comfortable pen. It is very important that you have all of the donor names and registration numbers as well as the sire names and registration numbers. As an AETA certified business, it is our responsibility to be sure that information is provided on all our paperwork but most importantly it must be used when processing frozen embryos. Depending on how many donors are being flushed, the recipient cows may need to be penned also. At least you should have them in a smaller area close to the chute. If you are using “heats” on your recips, have that information also written in a concise legible format. After the donors are flushed, they will be given a shot of prostaglandin to minimize the risk of a retained embryo(s) and a resulting pregnancy in your donors. Depending on your future plans for this donor, it is advisable to give a second injection of prostaglandin 3-5 days later. After transfers are made into the recipients, they should be handled very quietly. If moving them to a new farm or location, it is recommended to move them either transfer day or possibly the next two days. Do not handle them from five days after transfer through twenty-five days to provide them with their best chance to recognize pregnancy.