Hi guys,
I was wondering if any of you did any embryo work with pedigree cattle. I have pedigree blondes and am just coming up to calving my first batch of recipient heifers so i thought i would post my experiences so far.
About 10 years ago we had an outbreak of tb and most of the cattle where taken by department vets for incineration. The few cows we where left with we picked the best two and decided to 'flush' them. We picked the best semen would suit and flushed them both twice. Now these cows where both 12 years old, and we seen this as an experiment so if something went wrong and the cows didnt breed again after then it wasnt a disaster like a champion heifer. Well after the course of superovulation ***** to get the cows to release more eggs than normal on a cycle, the cows where AI'd twice, 12 hours apart about 8 hours after a standing heat.
Then a week later an ET technician came to the farm and 'flushed' the fertilized eggs out and graded and froze all the good ones. The first time we got 3 from each animal, the second time one animal had 3 and the other had none due to an infection.
We found it was best to work with 2 aminals as they are good company for eachother.
We didnt 'line up' recipient heifers as there can be a huge variation in the numbers of embryos produced in a single flush from 0 to well over 20. Both are rare but between 2 and 6 is average. So after they where froze, i basically left them. I bought a batch of 12 blue x fresian heifers just off milk. I know i only needed 9 but hedged my bets. In feburary this year as they where 18 months old i put a prid in andlined up their cycles ready for implanting by the ET tech. No problems he examined the best 9 and implanted the eggs from frozen. The typical conception rate is 50% from frozen and around 60-65% fresh. 4 heifers repeated at 6 weeks and pd confiemed they where not incalf. I ran them with the bull and recently sold them.
The incalf recipients are due mid November and I hope to calf them naturally.
I will let you know how I get on. Please feel free to ask any questions or comment.
I was wondering if any of you did any embryo work with pedigree cattle. I have pedigree blondes and am just coming up to calving my first batch of recipient heifers so i thought i would post my experiences so far.
About 10 years ago we had an outbreak of tb and most of the cattle where taken by department vets for incineration. The few cows we where left with we picked the best two and decided to 'flush' them. We picked the best semen would suit and flushed them both twice. Now these cows where both 12 years old, and we seen this as an experiment so if something went wrong and the cows didnt breed again after then it wasnt a disaster like a champion heifer. Well after the course of superovulation ***** to get the cows to release more eggs than normal on a cycle, the cows where AI'd twice, 12 hours apart about 8 hours after a standing heat.
Then a week later an ET technician came to the farm and 'flushed' the fertilized eggs out and graded and froze all the good ones. The first time we got 3 from each animal, the second time one animal had 3 and the other had none due to an infection.
We found it was best to work with 2 aminals as they are good company for eachother.
We didnt 'line up' recipient heifers as there can be a huge variation in the numbers of embryos produced in a single flush from 0 to well over 20. Both are rare but between 2 and 6 is average. So after they where froze, i basically left them. I bought a batch of 12 blue x fresian heifers just off milk. I know i only needed 9 but hedged my bets. In feburary this year as they where 18 months old i put a prid in andlined up their cycles ready for implanting by the ET tech. No problems he examined the best 9 and implanted the eggs from frozen. The typical conception rate is 50% from frozen and around 60-65% fresh. 4 heifers repeated at 6 weeks and pd confiemed they where not incalf. I ran them with the bull and recently sold them.
The incalf recipients are due mid November and I hope to calf them naturally.
I will let you know how I get on. Please feel free to ask any questions or comment.
