We once ordered bee pollen. After a couple weeks of waiting, Art called the bee guy and asked what happened to our order. The bee keeper said, it's not like buying a Coke. From then on, when things took longer than you'd expect, Art said, "It's not like buying a Coke." That's embryo work, it's not like buying a Coke. I have learned a lot and made my share of mistakes along the embryo journey.

You might be interested in the process. If you are considering purchasing an embryo, understand that it's a gamble. Fresh embryos have a higher chance of developing into a calf than frozen ones. Of the 8 embryos we implanted, 5 were fresh and 3 were frozen. 4 out of the 5 fresh ones seem to have "taken". 2 out of 3 frozen ones seem to have taken. I haven't finished the pregnancy tests yet, but only 2 of my recip cows have come back in heat.

Last week we implanted 8 more embryos, all frozen. I will keep you posted on how they do. We planned to take advantage of the fact that fresh embryos are more viable than frozen, but we had to freeze all the first ones we produced.

A week into December of 2007, we delivered our donor cow, April to the vet. Early the next morning we selected 9 recipient heifers. We inserted a CIDR (a progesterone implant) and gave them a shot of progesterone-estradiol. 6 or 7 days later the CIDR was removed and a 5ml shot of lutalyse was given. If the recips respond to the treatment, they will come in heat sometime in the next 3 days. Usually the morning of the second day. April had her first calf by her side. We scheduled the flush after the calf reached 60 days of age. April did not respond on a timely basis to the drugs. She did come in heat but was a day late. This indicated that she had only produced one egg. It wasn't worth 3 straws of semen for 1 egg. The vet abandoned flush #1. Meanwhile the 9 recip heifers came in heat. Oh, well.

We purchased Bar J Miracle 7G9 and her 4 month old bull calf. Next flush began in January of 2008. This time the donor cows come in right on time and produced 16 embryos between them. Now the recipient heifers were somewhat co-ordinated in their cycling from the first effort. Four or more of 11 had a bloody discharge when we were inserting the CIDR. The vet said this indicated a very recent heat. My helper was in a hurry the morning we pulled the CIDRs and talked me out of using the heat detectors. (this is a capsule that is glued onto the hind end of the cow where it will be burst & turn red when other cows ride her) One of 2 things happened. Either the cows didn't come in or we missed noticing the heats. My vet said heats can occur at night and may be missed.

We took 3 animals in to receive embryos. One was too small to work with, a 1/2 blood heifer out of Mr. Dundee and a beefmaster cow. One was wishful thinking and one received a #3 embryo which didn't work. Perfect embryos are #1, slightly irregular are #2 - these can both be successfully frozen. # 3 and # 4, can be used only fresh. Now we have 15 frozen embryos. Flush #3: This time we prepared the recipient cows correctly with the heat indicators. 12 out of 15 recip heifers came in heat on a timely basis. We took 12 to the vet. There is 1 week from the time your recip cows come in heat and they are ready to receive an embryo. Embryos are a week old when they are "flushed".

This time for whatever reason, the donor cows only produced 5 embryos between them. Of the 12 recip heifers, 8 were good candidates. Some had ovarian cysts.

We implanted 8 embryos 5 fresh and 3 frozen. I'm hoping that 6 are carrying embryos. 2 have come back in heat. There are 12 embryos left. We prepare 15 recipients, 9 come in heat. It's been a month since the last heifers were prepared to receive implants. During this time I have fed them kelp meal and mineral free choice, loose. This time there were no cysts. 8 of the 9 received embryos.

So learn from our mistakes. If you have a young cow for flushing, wait until her calf is 3 to 4 months old. Remember to put the heat detectors on when you pull the CIDRs. Follow the directions for placement. Check the recips on heat days several times and write down the numbers of the cows that are standing. Sometimes the heat detector is not placed quite right to work properly. If you can co-ordinate the heats to the natural cycle of the cows you will have a higher % that come in. A cow has a 21 day cycle. It is now May and HOT. My vet is planning to quit the embryo work by June 23 and won't resume until cooler weather in the fall. If you decide to try the embryo route, don't forget the heat detectors. Good Luck, and a few prayers wouldn't hurt.