Donors of the Myers-Cooper herd... Queen S2409S

What does it take to be a donor female in the Myers-Cooper Akaushi herd...? The goal of embryo transfer is to propagate and disperse genetics from a top-end female into surrogate females. This way a producer can get more progeny out of the females deemed the most elite.

An elite female, according to me, should be highly maternal in regards to a perfect calving record (fertility), optimal calf weights and condition (proper type and mothering ability), and near ideal structural design and kind (transmitting ability).

Why would you ever want to multiply less fertile, unproven and/or poorer built genetics...? Believe it or not, this happens on a daily basis...worldwide.

A female must prove her self in a natural calf production setting for many year before she is eligible to become a Myers-Cooper embryo donor. As well, her progeny's performance and phenotypic design are equally important. If she skips a calf or falls behind in the calving season (reduced or delayed fertility) the path to become a donor becomes incredible hard or impossible.

The first cow I went to find when I left HeartBrand was S2409R, who I subsequently named "Queen". When at HeartBrand I observed 25+ of her sons come through as developing sale bulls. She consistently produced sons who ranked at the top of their contemporary groups.

Queen was bred and born at HeartBrand ranch. She is a direct daughter of the imported bull, Shigemaru 457. Her dam is a daughter of Big Al 502 and the imported cow Fuyuko. Matador Cattle Company in Russell, KS purchased her in a large group when they entered the Akaushi business. Queen was part of the first group of fullblood Akaushi cows we purchased in November 2016.

Queen S2409R is currently 14 years old and is about to wean a Jan. 23rd keeper quality bull calf. She still carries good flesh even later in the lactation period and I classify her as moderate+ in milking ability. She is being flushed to HeartBrand King David in June-July and we are excited to see her polled linebred Shigemaru progeny in the future! She's one of the most impressive Akaushi females you will see in person. It's our goal to make many more like her.