South West Embryo Transfer and Advanced Breeding Service

Wyvern Farm Vets offers a full pedigree and commercial cow embryo flushing and freezing service to our Wyvern and Advanced Breeding clients, with all retrieved embryos stored in our APHA approved embryo store at our Frome farm practice. (Please refer to the map for the area covered by our team)

Flushing high genetic merit animals enables a greater number of calves to be born during the lifetime of a cow than would otherwise be possible.

On average, you can expect to flush 5 embryos per procedure and approximately 30 embryos throughout the lifetime of a cow compared to 6-8 calves being produced. This enables quicker genetic progress from superior animals and allows you to select higher genetic merit replacements.

Coupled with Genomic Testing and genetic progress reports, we can help you select your best animals to be flushed and transfer their embryos into the bottom 25% of your stock, generating better replacements and quicker genetic progress.

This service also takes our Repeat Breeder Service to the next level as we’re now able to flush cows on your farm to generate your own repeat breeder embryos. You then own the flushed embryos and can transfer them into problem breeders when you need to with your own genetics, taking out the cost of purchasing repeat breeder embryos.

“You’re buying a pregnancy, not a calf”

Repeat breeder treatments offer improved conception rates when compared to conventional AI for repeat breeder cows. This treatment is suitable for any cow that’s had 2 serves and not held.

The cost of treatment can be easily justified when you consider the costs of having a cow ‘open’ being £3.50-£5/day beyond the voluntary waiting period, as well as the wasted straws of semen, equating to £120-130 per cycle.

If you get your cow in-calf one cycle earlier, the service has paid for itself financially. Plus, there are the benefits of her having fewer days open, calving interval not extending, and not putting on excessive condition through her lactation whilst not in-calf.

Current replacement heifer prices sit around £1500-2000, therefore, retaining a suitable cow is an option worth considering if the only thing stopping her from being retained is her not being pregnant.

This service is aimed at cows that suit your system and you want to retain for another lactation but are struggling to get pregnant.

The treatment involves the implantation of a non-pedigree embryo, 7 days after heat is observed, whether that be natural heat or following a line-up program. Conception rates are expected to be between 50-55% for any repeat breeder.

The important thing to remember with this service is that you are buying a pregnancy, not the calf, with the aim of retaining a good cow that you have otherwise struggled to get pregnant.

Together with NMR, we offer a full genomic testing service at competitive prices, including a genetic progress report, with discussion and advice regarding your results. We can help tailor the advice based on traits that are important to you, or that you want to improve within your herd, to target your breeding strategy and improve welfare and profitability.

Genomic testing is more accurate than parent trait averages (PTA’s) and can be done in calves, allowing you to select your genetically superior animals much earlier as replacements and enabling quicker genetic progress to be made.