- Embryo transfer is a method used to maximise a female’s reproductive potential. Under normal circumstances, a female alpaca is capable of only having one cria annually. Using embryo transfer technology, you can allow her to breed multiple times in a single year and have her embryos harvested for transfer into less valuable females that have poorer genetics that you wouldn’t necessarily think were worth breeding on their own merit. This increases the number of potential offspring that a single female is able to produce in her reproductive life. The embryos from your best females are carried by the “recipient” females and subsequently raised by those females, although their genetics is of much higher value. more »
- An assessment was made of the risk of transmission of foot and mouth disease (FMD), vesicular stomatitis, bluetongue, tuberculosis and brucellosis by llama embryos. The study suggests that embryo transfer is a safe method for the international movement of llama embryos despite the special characteristics of these embryos, such as the absence of a zona pellucida, and despite the lack of data onpathogen-embryo interactions. For acute viral diseases such as FMD, vesicular stomatitis or bluetongue, embryo transfer reduces the risk of international embryo movement by a factor of 104. Therefore, if favourable epidemiological or ecological conditions exist in the region of origin of the embryos, the risk of contamination of a batch of llama embryos with the above agents is close to zero. The risk of contamination with Mycobacterium or Brucella depends on the incidence of these diseases, but under the most unfavourable prevalence levels, the risk does not exceed 10-3.3, given that the results of diagnostic tests of the herd and of donor animals are negative before and after collection of the embryos. This study demonstrates that risk assessment can be a valuable tool to facilitate international movement of embryos, particularly for those species for which little or no data are available regarding embryo-pathogen interactions. more »
- The use of embryo transfer (ET) technologies has been a relatively recent advance in breeding technology for alpacas in Australia. The reasoning behind the development of the technology was to increase the use and allow great availability of genetically superior animals both locally and internationally. With long gestation periods for alpacas (11 months), conventional breeding results in slow genetic gain. Also information gained from these breedings is less reliable as it is difficult to compare results over various years due to the variations in season etc also influencing the results. more »
- In the summer of 1998 a man named Bob Godke phoned our ranch in Montana. He said he had heard we knew how to do embryo transfer in the South American camelids. Godke, it turned out, was Dr. Robert Godke, Professor of Reproductive Physiology at LSU and world famous authority on advanced reproduction techniques. He was in Montana for a fly fishing holiday and decided to track down the rumor he heard at a meeting of the International Embryo Transfer Society (of which he is a past President). Godke came to the Taylor Ranch for an afternoon of conversation which led to demonstrations and eventually to a full-blown cooperative project between LSU and the Taylors. He was quick to admit that he simply had not believed reports that an unpublished layman llama breeder, without any formal training in advanced reproduction, was doing embryo transfer in llamas with a high rate of success. Nobody else in the world had recorded more than a few successful embryo transfers in the lamas (less than 10 in total) and we were claiming more than one hundred live births. The success of our llama embryo transfer program is due to a team effort. My wife, Sally, does most of the actual palpations, ultrasound scans and embryo flushes and transfers while I assist and take notes. Bob Godke realized the importance of this and began to refer to Sally as my "secret weapon". Teamwork, at least two people working closely together to manage the animals, do the technical work and keep accurate records, is essential for successful embryo transfer in camelids. Luckily for me, Sally enjoys this work and is very good at it. more »
- Late in 2004 we decided to experiment with the advanced reproductive technique of embryo transfer . It was a big decision to make for our small stud as the technique has only recently evolved from an experimental research challenge in alpaca breeding to a potentially useful commercial breeding tool. As the results can vary dramatically between ET programmes and across different studs, the following discussion highlights some of the issues and challenges that we had to face as novice users of this technology. more »