Equine embryo transfer programs have become extremely popular in recent years. The ability to breed offspring from a mare in a single season while still allowing the mare to continue in her performance area provides mare owners with genetic security. ET at
Mid North Coast Equine Reproduction Centre (MERC) has now developed to become an affordable option for mare owners to consider in their breeding plans and avoids having to wait until retirement to start the next generation.
Mares programmed for embryo transfer are bred according to the owner's requests by insemination or natural service. This is the exact same process as for those mares that are carrying their own progeny, except that the recipient herd is monitored according to the donor mare’s cycle to help select possible recipient or carrier mares.
Approximately seven days after ovulation, the donor mare has her uterus “flushed” to recover the embryo. The embryo is then categorised, washed and prepared for transfer in the MERC laboratory before being transferred to a recipient mare that has been selected specifically for that embryo.
The recipient mare is then scanned weekly until she is 42 days pregnant, at which time she is leased to the embryo owner until she weans the foal. She is then returned to MERC to rejoin the recipient herd.
The donor mare can be bred multiple times in a season, with some mares capable of producing an embryo every two weeks.
Mare owners have the option of breeding several times to the same stallion or of using a variety of stallions to produce a range of progeny in the same season. This allows the mare owner to guarantee the bloodlines of the mare, not having to wait until the mare finishes competition or performance in order to carry a foal.
Contact
Macleay Valley Vet Services on
(02) 6562 7391 to reach our Kempsey clinic or
(02) 6566 7513 for our
South West Rocks Branch Clinic. Alternatively, call MERC directly on
(02) 6562 7391.
