Embryo Transfer

[Alan]

I have an oppurtunity to buy some embryos and what I consider to be a good price from a good bull and donor cow. But they are a lot more expensive than the bulls semen.

My question is if I bought frozen embryos, what is the percentage rate of them "settling" in the cow after implant. Assuming the person (Vet) knew what they are doing? Any ballpark ideas or thoughts?

Thanks,
Alan

 

[ffamom]

I don't know what breed so I can't help you with the price. I have seen them go for as little as $150 up to $1000. I must say that my experience is very limited with embryo sales. Usually if you buy 5 they guarantee 3 pregnancies.

As far as how many will settle, we had 4 out of 4 settle(fresh embryos.) I think the embryologist makes a huge difference. At that time he told us the average settle rate was around 50 to 67%. Fresh embryos have a higher settle rate than frozen ones.

 

[Matt Schiel]

When your're buying embroys who are buying the genetics of the donor cow first then the bull. I would hope that the embryos are more than the bull semen. You should get at least 50% conception rate for frozen and more with fresh.

Matt

 

[Victoria]

Most embryo sales here guarantee one pregnancy if you buy a package of three #1 frozen embryos. That doesn't mean that you won't get more than one, it's just that one is the minimum. They have to be implanted by a certified technician which may not be your vet. Ask and make sure your vet does it. Our vet does AI'ing but not embryos.

 

[DrDave]

Your choice of embryologist plays a large part in this. You need a good embryologist that will match embryos to your recips (as far as the age/grade of the embryo with the quality, stage of the recip's cycle). Ordinarily, 50% +/-5-10% is a ballpark range, with the lower end with frozen and the upper end on fresh.

 

[polledbull]

we can get 65-75 % with ET with a variable of 10% from fresh to frozen eggs on grade 1 and 2 . we dont freeze any grade 3's . we usually will put a few 3's in and can get around 30% on them fresh.