ABSTRACT
The role of embryo transfer (ET) has grown from that of being a research tool to becoming an economically important component of the purebred livestock industry. Breeders who wanted to use ET to produce one great animal or a show-ring winner caused attention to focus on the donor's frame size and on the show-ring winnings of the donor's relatives. In ET calves from the same flush, phenotypic variations are great and appear to be closely associated with the phenotypic value and milk production potential of the recipient dam. Recipient dam selection has become about as important to the ET breeder as is the selection of the donor dams. Since use of ET began, breed associations have had problems dealing with the performance records of ET calves. ETs have created much interest, but it has been difficult to measure and record performance records on traits that are economically important to the beef cattle industry.
