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. 1979 Mar 1;20(1):135–144. doi: 10.1186/BF03546636

Embryo Transplantation in Cattle

Non-Surgical Transfer of 6½–7½-Day Old Embryos to Lactating Dairy Cows Under farm Conditions

Ægtransplantation på kvæg. Ikke-kirurgisk overfõrsel af 6½–7½ dage garnie embryoner til lakterende malkekøer

Torben Greve 1,✉, Henrik Lehn-Jensen 1
PMCID: PMC8322877  PMID: 443135

Abstract

Previous attempts to transfer embryos non-surgically to heifers have been rather discouraging. The present experiment describes a simple non-surgical technique where the 6½–7½ -day old embryo is placed in a 0.25 ml ministraw, fitted into a common insemination gun and transferred cervically to synchronized lactating dairy cows. Thirty-two viable embryos were transferred to the middle part of the uterine horn ipsilateral to the ovary containing the corpus luteum. It was easy to pass the cervix, and most embryos could be deposited in the horn within 1 or 2 min. Eighteen animals were diagnosed pregnant (56% ). It is conceivable that the easy atraumatic transfers and good management (feeding, oestrus control) of the recipients contributed to the high pregnancy rate.

Keywords: non-surgical embryo transfer, lactating cattle

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Footnotes

This work was supported by a grant from the Danish Agricultural and Veterinary Research Council.

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