Al6-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 23, 1993
12 01/15/93
Past Mak'sd/ll-
on raous
High Low close
310.5 366.5 310.25
351.5 345.75 356.5
366.00 355.00 363.25
'344.00 335.00 341.5
351.00 340.5 341.75
222.00 216.5 217.00
229.5 224.5 225.00
236.00 231.25 231.75
566.00 574.5 513.00
516.75 576.5 511.5
590.5 510.5 514.00
115.3 162.4 113.1
21.96 a.3S 21.52
60.75 79.35 60.70
79.45 76.20 79.075
68.95 67.975 66.175
44.90 43.35 44.025
44.50 42.95 43.50
40.15 37.25 37.50
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MY KCHT
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OCT NOT DEC JIN
VERNON ACHENBACH JR.
Lancaster Fanning Staff
OXFORD (Chester
Co.) One of the leading author
ities on bovine genetics Thursday
had some good news and bad news
for dairymen interested in laborat
ory techniques for genetic
improvement.
Dr. George Seidel, researcher at
Colorado State University, and
world-renowned for his know
ledge in reproductive physiology
in cattle, was one of several speak
ers to address this year’s Penn-
Jersey Dairy Expo, an annual edu
cational forum for dairymen joint
ly sponsored by extension services
in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
On Thursday, at the first loca
tion, Union Fire Co. No. 1, in
Oxford, Seidel talked about a num
ber of high-tech genetic issues and
frequently presented the advan
tages and disadvantages of each, as
is currently understood.
The Penn-Jersey program is
held in two different locations over
two days, but it is the same prog
ram both days so that dairymen
from both states can get the oppor
tunity to hear the same speakers.
The second program was held yes
terday in Easton.
The joint venture budget also
allows die program to sponsor top
level experts on issues of interest
to dairymen.
For example, Seidel said that
while embryo transfer is success
ful and improvements are current
ly being worked on for better pre
gnancy rates and embryo viability,
the downside is that the cost of
using the technique for herd gene
tic improvement isn’t justified by
the return in the milk check.
He said that using E.T. on any'
but the best cows, and unless a calf
can be sold for more than $ 1,000 at
six months of age, the use of
embryo tranfer techniques in
breeding programs is probably not
justified.
“But money isn’t everything.
Think of it (using leading edge
genetic techniques) as entertain
ment value,” he said, offering that
most people who breed cattle So so
DTI WEEKLY TEOmCU, SOHMIY
-1/15) Dacesber's
Low Support tesistance
346.75 351.75 362.50-401.25
334.00 337.00 360.25-372.00
343.5 339.50 366.00-362.00
325.25 325.25 349.00-355.00
330.5 325.25 350.00
216.00 212.00 229.00
223.25 214.50 231.50-245.00
229.00 226.25 236.25
556.25 557.00 593.00
561.00 570.00 566.00-601.00
567.00 576.00 597.00
176.60 176.50 167.60
20.00 20.65 22.20
73.535 76.97 62.70
73.665 76.55 62.70
63.55 64.20 91.10
42.60 41.25 47.45
40.65 41.95 46.125
36.65 35.90 40.875
COHTUCT HIGH: 210.0 IXM: 176.4
|, |" I
because of their interest in the ani
mal, not merely for bottom line
profits.
Seidel, while not knocking the
embryo transfer businesses which
are in existence, said that for the
average dairyman, using regular
artificial insemination and good
mating techniques will improve
the herd genetic pool profitably, if
not as quickly as can embryo
transfer.
He did note that about half the
bulls in A.I. are the result of
embryo tranfer work, but he said
that reflects more the interest of
those with the best cows, not
necessarily because the bulls are
better.
Seidel is a regular contributor to
Hoard’s Dairyman, received a
bachelor’s of science degree from
Penn State University, a masters
and doctorate from Cornell, has
been a research fellow at Harvard
Medical School and did a sabbati
cal at Yale to learn microsurgical
techniques for embryos. He has
been at Colorado State University
since 1971 and has been deeply
involved in catde reproduction.
Other speakers at the exposition
included Jim Putnam, of Spring
field Farm Credit, Mass., who
talked on financial management in
an unstable milk market; a panel of
farmers Dr. Robert Graves,
Don Quick, John St. John, and
Gordon Wood with different
experiences with environmental
problems; and Dan McFarland,
multi-county extension agricultur
al engineer, who talked about cow
comfort.
There were also a number of
commercial exhibits at the fire hall
auditorium for the more than 90
people who attended.
Seidel explained that the gene
tics program at Colorado started
with the college retaining a bull
stud that was created for research
into A. 1.. The college retained and
marketed the semen in a semi
commercial enterprise.
He said it expanded into a semi
commercial embryo transfer prog
ram, which was later dropped.
Over time, the college collected
GRAIN, CATTLE AND HOG
FUTURES MARKETS
1/15/93
Currant
LIVESTOCK 16 TEB LIVE BOGS
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OCT HOT DEC Jll
DTI GMIIS 22 MICH SOYBEAIS CORMCT HIGH: 6.640 LOR: 5.366
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OCT 1»V DEC JAM
Bovine Genetics:
(Closing bids: Thursday, January 21, 1993)
comer no: 45.95 low: 40.02
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about 6,000 embryos and used
many for research and for teach
ing. Many people who now prac
tice embryo transfer techniques
gained their first experience at the
Denver college, he said.
He said that work started off in
beef cattle primarily with the Sim
mental and Limousin breeds which
were a rarity at that time.
Since then* with the advent of
embryo freezing techniques in
1979 and later sexing and cloning
and improved handling tech
niques, the research has steadily
been revealing more and more
about the complex nature of repro
duction and the effects of genetic
manipulation.
Cloning, for example, though
not commercially ready, is being
done to produce pregnancies every
year.
Embryo transfer work is esti
mated at about 160,000 pregnan
cies in 1992 in North America,
about 80 percent in the U.S., 20
percent in Canada. He said Europe
is catching up. About 30 percent to
50 percent of embryos are frozen.
Dr. George Seidel, of Colorado State University, talks with Dr. Lawrence Specht,
from Penn State University, about bovine genetics, during the Penn-Jersey Dairy
Expo. An interested member of the audience listens to the two.
Beyond A.I.
The biggest fringe benefit to
using embryo transfer is the ability
to prevent the spread of commun
icable diseases from female tc
offspring. This is possible because
of the effect of an embryo’s outer
wall, a gelatinous capsule that sur
rounds the one-sevenhundredth
inch diameter embryo, he said.
The drawbacks to using embryo
transfer is cost, difficulty of pre
dicting how many embryos will be
collected by flushing any specific
cow, and it’s more difficult to pre
dict pregnancies.
He said a study of cows and the
number of embryos harvested
showed that 20 percent of the cows
give almost half the embryos,
while almost half of the cows give
only 11 percent.
A lot of research remains, he
said, and he briefly discussed the
wave-cycling of bovines that was
recently discovered.
Michael O’Conner, PSU dairy
specialist, has also spoken at
recent, local seminars about the
wave-phenomena of follicular
development in cattle and its
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implications on breeding cattle and
heat detection.
Similarly, the wave effect may
have an affect on success with
flushing.
Other drawbacks to the applica
tion of leading edge techniques
include a reduced pregnancy rate
with frozen embryos that is still
being worked out. He said that fro
zen embryos are only 75 percent to
85 percent as successful as non
frozen embryos, which aren’t 100
percent successful.
Sexing eggs and sperm has been
a topic of interest, but until recen
tly predictions were not given
much credibility because of a lack
of a quick enough technique for
separation between the two diffe
rent sexes. '
The technique used most suc
cessfully, though there are others,
consists of shooting a very fine
stream of fluid containing the
sperm out through the end of a very
small, vibrating needle which
causes small droplets, each carry
ing a sperm.
(Turn to Page A2B)