Reproductive and nutritional management of your camelid herd

Postal: PO Box 406
Ocean Grove Vic 3226
Australia

Mobile: 0428 842 862
(0428 vicuna)

E-mail: vaughan@ava.com.au

Embryo transfer

Investigation of difficult breeders

Pregnancy diagnosis and certification

Nutritional advice

JDMAP

Parasite control

Plasma collection

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Embryo transfer

Embryo transfer (ET) is the process by which embryos are harvested from valuable female alpacas or llamas and transferred into less valuable females for incubation and nurturing. Each donor female is mated naturally by a male, which (a) induces her to release an egg into the oviduct and (b) deposits sperm in the female reproductive tract. The union of the egg and sperm (fertilisation) in the oviduct results in the development of an embryo, which can be harvested from the uterus about a week after mating. Donor females are lightly sedated and flushed non-surgically. Embryos are transferred into reproductively-sound recipient females of lesser genetic merit. The donor female can be mated and flushed in subsequent weeks to allow more embryo collections and transfers. Embryo transfer exploits the complementary genetic merits of elite male and female camelids and has the potential for major impact in genetic improvement and multiplication of the national herd. The CRIAgenesis mobile laboratory ensures embryo handling on your farm occurs in a temperature-controlled, dust-free environment. Successful ET with live births has been performed over the last 3 years in Australia, following work performed in commercial alpaca herds by CRIAgenesis and Dr David Hopkins, of the Bellarine Veterinary Practice. Developmental work was performed at Benleigh Alpaca Stud .

Results to date in females that have not been superovulated:
231 donor females have been flushed and 164 embryos recovered (71 %).
164 embryos transferred into recipient females resulted in 96 pregnancies (58 %).

These results in females that have not been superovulated compare very favourably with other international laboratories that perform embryo transfer (von Baer et al. 2003: 58 pregnancies from 130 transferred embryos [45 %]).

Artificial breeding research is continuing in Australian camelids, with the development of multiple ovulation and embryo transfer (superovulation or MOET), embryo freezing and artificial insemination. These technologies will allow more flexibility in disseminating improved genotypes throughout the national herd.

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Flushing a donor alpaca.

The mobile ET laboratory
ETlab1

Alpaca embryos
embryos

Recipient female with ET cria at foot