EMBRYO
TRANSPLANT IN AUSTRALIA
"Braelea Park Etsu" at five days old with "Mary Mist"
Pure bred filly "Braelea Park Etsu", who foaled at 03:25 on 11th December 2000 , was conceived by "Wetherby Charlotte" NZ 2192 using frozen semen from imported UK stallion "Forest Field Day" 2002.
She is remarkable in that she is we believe, the very first successfully embryo transplanted purebred Cleveland Bay in the world. We sought a name for her containing the letters E and T within it, and after combing many sources settled on "Etsu", a Japanese name which signifies happiness.
Her embryo was transplanted at seven days after "Charlotte's" ovulation into recipient mare "Mary Mist", a six year old, 16.2hh Standard Bred mare, whose qualifications for the task were that she's young, fertile, the right size, and just happened to be at the right stage of ovulation to be "in sync" with "Charlotte" when desired.
We were early, (for horse people) pioneers of this emerging technology some five years ago, and wasted two purebred mares and quite some money and effort for two seasons without success. I am pleased to report the advances in surgical procedures and veterinary expertise have now advanced to make this practice in our experience viable now.
The advantages of embryo transplants (ET) are:-
Young, say two year old, mares can be bred, then left to continue their own natural growth without the considerable drain of carrying and rearing a developing foal. Prior to ET we'd personally never have considered breeding a mare until at least three years old.
Performance mares can now be bred, the embryo transplanted, and the mare is able to continue her competition and training activities relatively uninterrupted.
Older or difficult mares, still able to conceive, but unable or with a poor record for successfully carrying full term, can be still viable again as a breeding proposition.
Late conceiving mares can be embryo flushed and left free to begin breeding again early in the following season.
Multiple foals can now be produced in the same season from a single mare.
In
"Braelea Park Etsu's" case, her dam "Wetherby Charlotte"
was successfully
re-inseminated again during her cycle following the transplant, using
frozen semen from UK Premium stallion "Bantry Bere" 2132. This
gives us the remarkably bountiful production of two purebred foals by
two different stallions out of the same mare in the same season.
Embryo transplants, despite the considerable effort and costs involved must surely be goodness for a breed with such small numbers as ours, and holds much promise to assist in the propogation of our beloved Cleveland Bays.
For
more detailed information on embryo transplants see
"Assisted Reproductive Technologies for Horses: Embryo Transfer"
by Dr Simon Robinson at http://www.bpstud.com.au in the articles section.
David
Gregory,
Braelea Park Stud, Australia
February
2001