Paul, what everybody wants to know is where do you get a Mrs Humphreys from?
Gday Mrs Anderson. Another big run again last night. Thought you were going to get there half way down the straight. She did you proud again. Excuse my ignorance but my son has a question I couldn't answer (again). He said it was about breeding but didn't mention horses at the time so sent shudders through me! Question about recipient mares so said would ask someone who is sure to know. Does National Gallery actually get in foal before the transfer is done? Or do they transfer the unfertilised eggs to the recipient mare and serve her? Cheers
To answer your boy's query...
The donor mare (National Gallery) is served with the stallion's semen via AI.
The donor mare's egg is then fertilised by this semen inside the donor mare.
After 15 days with a positive pregnancy test of the donor mare the fertilised egg inside the uterus of the donor mare is flushed out through a filter into a petrie dish. The fertilised egg (foetus) located using a microscope (one of the most amazing sights I have been privileged, in my view to see) is then inserted into the recipient mare who will carry the foetus foal to full term and birth of a wonderful foal. The recipient mare then nurses and cares for the foal to weaning before fading from the scene so to speak.
The foal's breeding and DNA is that of the stallion and the donor mare.
Good luck in explaining the details to your son but that is the process of successful Embryo Transfer.
Cheers
Last edited by teecee; 11-18-2012 at 06:46 PM.
Hi Paul
Thanks for your comments re our girl, she certainly does her best and has pulled up well. She has gone from C0 to M3 in 10 months . Looks like we will have to go up against the boys again next week; she needs the racing. Hoping the mares race at Melton on Nov30 stands up . Should have gone to Menangle ; 5 in the mares race there last night. Can' t get away with the mares foaling ,12 on the ground 2 to go. We have 3 recipient mares with foals and they are all good ( all Sbred mares ) . Teecee 's explanation of the embryo transfer process was spot on except we flush the donor mare 6 days after she is served. NG was flushed 10 days ago and there is now a healthy embryo in a recipient mare. We are using 4 recipient mares this year .Love the breeding season , another 2weeks and it will be time to start the yearling prep for the APG Sales in Melbourne.
Just too make it clear, fanboys are just fans, not groupies or anything like that, and don't get involved in the breeding side of things.
Also, in general, what sort of prize-money would a mare have to earn in the 12 months to make it feasible?
It depends on your choice of stallion and how much you wish to spend on a service fee. If I am using a recipient mare I always select a highly credentialed stallion . Rocknroll Hanovers service fee is $11000. Vet fees for scanning , testing etc and embryo retrieval ,placement in recipient mare and the continuation of her pregnancy is approx$1000.
When the recipient mare has held the pregnancy for 42 days she becomes the responsibility of the of the donor mares owner. I then pay $2200 to ' rent' the mare for 18 months from our Vet. Because we have our own farm our costs for looking after the mare are minimal. I do not consider it an expensive exercise to obtain an early foal from a good racemare or from a mare that can not carry a foal full term.