Life of Sperm and Egg in Cow

[Chuckie]

After a cow has ovulated, the egg has reached the uterus, how many hours will the egg stay healthy enough to be fertilized if semen has not been deposited? Example: If the egg dropped six hours before she was inseminated, would the egg still be healthy to produce a calf?
If the semen is put in the cow just before the egg comes down, how long will the sperm stay healthy to fertilize the egg when it does drop? If it was put in several hours before the egg drops, will the sperm still be healthy enough to fertilize the egg? Chuckie

 

[dun]

First of all, the sperm has to contact the egg while it's still in the upper oviduct. For best conception the sperm has to be sitting there waiting for the egg.
In theory the egg is only viable for about 10 hours from release from the ovary but rapidly loses viability after about 6 hours. Sperm only live about 24 hours in the females repro tract. It takes several hours in the repro tract before the sperm is able to fertilize the egg (it used to be called capacitation).
From Carnation Genetics AI reference guide.

dun

 

[Chuckie]

Thanks dun! It would be nice if the egg could stay healthy for a longer period of time. It would make the conception rate go up. Chuckie

 

[KNERSIE]

I think it would have been even better if the sperm survived longer, then the timing wouldn't have been so crucial and synchronization with timed AI would have yielded much better results.