A 'recip' (short for 'recipient') is like a surrogate mother. A recip is a cow or heifer that is implanted with an embryo from a donor cow & bull with desired genetics. This cow carries the embryo to term, giving birth to and raising the calf until weaning. Although the calf has no genetic relationship to the recipient, this process allows the donor cow to maximize her genetic contribution while the recip provides care and nourishment to the calf.