Embryo transfers
(Continued from Page 23)
order to offer embryo
transplanting at a cost of
S than $lOOO per
oregnancy. There are many
variables, however, such as
traveling distances. One
sure-fire way to cut costs is
for the farmer to provide his
own recipient animal. “The
biggest problem with em
bryo transfers is the non
availability of open heifers,”
sa vs Dr. Alan McCauley,
technical director for Via
Pax, U.S.A. If the dairyman
does not have a cow or heifer
available, Via Pax will buy
one and charge the farmer
for the additional costs.
While price reductions are
already * being considered,
more are sure to come as the
technique advances. For
example, Young predicts
that non-surgical transfer of
embryos will be possible by
next year. When that hap
pens, the costs of surgery
will be eliminated.
Embryo are presently
being inserted into recipient
animals by way of an in
cision in the area just below
and forward of the hip or
hook bone. Via Pax
specialists envision future
implantations similar to
techniques presently being
used in artificial in
semination.
Flushing a cow of her
fertilized eggs is a com
paratively easy procedure,
but again, a delicate
operation.
Via Pax begins its
procedures with super
ovulation. With this
technique, the cow releases
several eggs, instead of just
one. The animal is bred and
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after about a week to 11
days, the fertilized eggs are
flushed out of the cow.
Technicians then examine
the fluid with a microscope
and isolate the developing
embryo. Once that’s done,
the recipient cow or heifer is
brought into a stall for
surgery. A local anesthetic is
administered" the surgeon
makes a 4-mch incision, and
the embryo is transplanted.
Via Pax can perform eight
such operations in less than
90 minutes.
In business smce Jan. 1 of
this year. Via Pax, U.S.A.
averages a success rate of
around 55 per cent. During
one month 73 per cent of the
transplanted embryos
resulted in successful
pregnancies. Dr. John
Hasler, a University of
Illinois graduate with four
years of experience in
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 10,1978
>«*>* ~
'■*£}
A recipient heifer shows no signs of discomfort
or malcontent as Dr. Stephan Sheridan reaches
into her side to find the uterus. Dr. John Hasier,
with pipette in hand, waits to deliver the tiny
embryo into the recipient animal. Via Pax has eight
such stalls for embryo transplant operations.
embryo transfer work,
admits that a 73 per cent
success rate is unusually
high. Since some operations
will not result in calves, the
operation is priced in two
stages: 1. a fee for the
services involved, and 2. a
full price if pregnancy oc
curs.
Via Pax performed 69
embryo transfer operations
in April and 67 last month.
“Interest now is far greater
than it was in the begin
ning,” Young commented.
Young, who grew up on a
dairy farm in the
Elizabethtown area, and
until eight years ago spent
most of his occupational
time with a business in
Lancaster, has been very
interested in embryo
transfer work for two years.
Superior Holstein cattle
have been one of his primary
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