2009: Managing the problem beef embryo donor Managing the problem beef embryo donor 1 J.W. Shull 2 Brazos Valley Genetics, P.O. Box 10345, College Station, TX, USA 3 4 Abstract 5 6 Defining the problem beef embryo donor and the methods of managing each problem 7 can differ with each donor presented. To manage the problems presented to the practitioner 8 the answer may include any one, or a combination of conservative medical or surgical 9 solutions. The donor’s life and physical health are rarely at risk when dealing with embryo 10 production issues. Therefore, the treatment protocol should be based on the possibility of 11 increasing her embryo production, and whether the expense involved is justified. 12 Keywords: Problem donor, management, treatment, expense 13 Introduction 14 What is a problem donor? The argument can be made for defining the problem donor 15 as that animal with physical or reproductive problems that deny her any possibility of 16 producing viable embryos on the day of embryo collection or one that just gives fewer 17 embryos than the average. In embryo transfer practice the definition of a problem donor is 18 primarily dependent upon the owner of the cow. One owner’s definition of a problem donor 19 can be another owner’s definition of acceptable. The financial as well as emotional 20 investment is weighed in defining whether or not the individual donor has a problem. If the 21 beef donor is the son’s or daughter’s present or past show heifer, or if she is the dam of the 22 steer that won a major show, then her status as a problem donor may differ when compared 23 to the embryo donor that is used only to fill an embryo purchase quota. Emotional 24 283 involvement and potential windfall gain, as compared to economic returns based on embryo 25 production per collection can drastically alter the definition of the problem donor. The 26 difficulty is to arrive at a definition of the problem beef donor that allows the embryo transfer 27 practitioner to make consistent recommendations for managing a problem while at the same 28 time taking into account the variations of expectations that result from each individual case. 29 Donor Embryo Production 30 The average number of viable embryos recovered per collection from stimulated beef 31 donors as reported by the American Embryo Transfer Association (AETA) in 2007 was 32 6.52.1 In 2006 embryo production was 6.501 and review of the past averages reveals there 33 have not been appreciable changes since the reporting began. This gives a baseline for the 34 discussion with the owner, and allows him or her to make treatment decisions based on the 35 animal’s peers. 36 Donor Management Problems 37 The problems that are routinely seen in the beef donor that result in less than expected 38 results can be categorized into problems associated with the owner, the practitioner, and 39 those directly related to the animal. The owner’s problems can be the easiest or the most 40 difficult to solve. Many times the owner’s problem is solved through education. Helping the 41 owner understand what is and is not a problem is crucial. If he/she has been misinformed by 42 breeders, journals, or other sources about expectations of embryo production a quick review 43 of the national averages1 will resolve the problem. A second owner-related issue that can 44 lead to a donor problem is the use of frozen semen from a sire with poor fertility. The 45 pressure to use the new up-and-coming sire or the bull that sired the high selling lot at the last 46 breed sale may take precedence over possible fertility issues. Even if a history of fertility 47 284 problems with the sire in question can be documented the decision to change sire choice to 48 one with good fertility can be a difficult task. 49 The second group of problems that can negatively affect the donor’s production are 50 problems related to the practitioner. The donor problems that can arise from the practitioner 51 range from inexperience, substandard donor protocols, inadequate embryo equipment, 52 handling facilities, weather, and cattle breed and age variations to name a few. 53 The third category of problems is that linked directly to the animal herself. These 54 decreases in production can be related to age, breed, malnutrition, obesity, disease, lameness, 55 genetic or congenital defects, reproductive disease, trauma, or dystocia. 56 Solutions and Treatments 57 To assess and devise a management plan for the many causes of decreased production 58 in the donor requires addressing all three categories of problems. 59 Owner-related problems 60 Owner education is the key to an understanding of embryo transfer goals. It is not 61 always easy for the owner to hear that not all donors give “25 number 1 eggs” at every 62 collection, but it is better to give realistic goals to the owner before the expenses and time 63 required for a successful or non-successful superovulation and collection are incurred. 64 Embryo production can be extremely high but there are many more donors that give no 65 viable embryos in a collection as opposed to those that produce twenty five or more that all 66 grade as quality score one.2 Sire selection is a difficult decision for the owner. In a 67 superovulation program it should be given considerable attention. With embryo production 68 the practitioner’s primary goal, the most consistent sire selection criteria available is to use 69 semen with known collection results. Whenever possible obtain frozen semen that you have 70 285 personal experience using in your practice. The same semen from the same cane from the 71 same bull taken from the same ranch nitrogen storage tank is the best way to insure 72 consistent sire results. Keep detailed records on every sire and refer to the results when 73 discussing sire assignments with the owner. He will make the final decision, but your 74 knowledge of previous sire success or failure can be a big influence. 75 Practitioner-related problems 76 The failure to reach production goals because of mistakes, inexperience, and lack of 77 specific reproductive knowledge by the practitioner is not a minor problem. If the 78 practitioner can not devote a large percentage of their time to embryo work they will not 79 know what equipment is necessary in specific situations, what programming differences are 80 needed related to breed and age, and how to deal with individual animal variations to obtain 81 the maximum production at each collection. The virgin heifer is a good example. She can be 82 a productive embryo producer if managed properly. By monitoring the estrous cycle, 83 decreasing the total amount of FSH, minimizing external stresses, and using specific 84 collection equipment and techniques a practitioner can increase the percentages of success 85 with young heifers. If the virgin heifer is managed as an adult the results will be 86 disappointing. The opposite end of the spectrum is the obese older American breed 87 (Brahman influenced) donor. Finding the proper stimulation protocols, and having the 88 equipment and ability needed to effectively collect this cow type is quite a challenge. There 89 are 1800 pound Beefmaster donors that require less FSH than a virgin heifer, have an 90 extremely large cervix and ovaries that are larger during postpartum anestrous than most 91 bovine superstimulated ovaries. The list of normal variations in the beef donor is lengthy but 92 286 the point is, the practitioner must be knowledgeable of the different skills, techniques, and 93 donor requirements needed to handle the variations as they are presented. 94 Animal-related Problems 95 Many of the donor problems related to the cow can be solved with time. Very 96 commonly a young normal heifer is presented as a potential donor and has not yet reached 97 puberty. A post partum cow or a thin nursing cow is presented and is not yet cycling. These 98 are not true problems but normal occurrences in the cow’s life. A group of reproductive 99 problems that can be treated either conservatively or aggressively, depending on the specific 100 problem’s effect on embryo production are urine pooling, pneumovagina, and vulvar tears. 101 My approach to this group of problems is conservative as long as no uterine involvement is 102 detected. I have adopted this approach because of the examination of recipient pregnancy 103 records. Notations on the transfer record for each of these three problems were made every 104 time a recipient was presented for transfer and the pregnancy results were examined. The 105 pregnancy rates of those affected recipients with urine pooling, pneumovagina, or vulvar 106 tears, but no indication of uterine involvement, did not differ from the non-affected 107 recipients. The donor with vulvar tears that allow vaginal fecal contamination and the urine 108 poolers that show signs of metritis are surgically repaired. The true problems that affect 109 production are often times problems that cannot be reversed. Blockage of the oviduct 110 (whether cystic or caseated), chronic mucometra, and severe uterine/ovarian adhesions are a 111 few examples. These problems can be handled in one of two ways, either sell the donor or 112 refer her to an in-vitro fertilization (IVF) clinic. The options are discussed with the owner as 113 to the cost of the procedure and expected results. If the value of the donor’s offspring warrant 114 the expense then IVF is a good option. 115 287 Conclusion 116 I hope I have made you aware that most of the problem donors that are presented can 117 be managed conservatively with success. The beef cow is one of the most reproductively 118 resilient animals veterinarians will ever encounter. The nutritional, physical, infectious, 119 genetic, and iatrogenic stresses that the cow can withstand and still be reproductively prolific 120 is quite remarkeable. 121 References 122 1. Stroud B: Annual report of the AETA statistics committee for the calendar year 123 2007. A closer look. Am Embryo Transfer Assoc Fall 2008:23:14. 124 2. Stringfellow D, Seidel SM: Certification and identification of the embryo. Manual of 125 the international embryo transfer society, 3rd ed; 1998. p 106-107.126 127 288 << /ASCII85EncodePages false /AllowTransparency false /AutoPositionEPSFiles true /AutoRotatePages /All /Binding /Left /CalGrayProfile (Dot Gain 20%) /CalRGBProfile (sRGB IEC61966-2.1) /CalCMYKProfile (U.S. Web Coated \050SWOP\051 v2) /sRGBProfile (sRGB IEC61966-2.1) /CannotEmbedFontPolicy /Warning /CompatibilityLevel 1.4 /CompressObjects /Tags /CompressPages false /ConvertImagesToIndexed true /PassThroughJPEGImages true /CreateJobTicket false /DefaultRenderingIntent /Default /DetectBlends true /DetectCurves 0.0000 /ColorConversionStrategy /CMYK /DoThumbnails false /EmbedAllFonts true /EmbedOpenType false /ParseICCProfilesInComments true /EmbedJobOptions true /DSCReportingLevel 0 /EmitDSCWarnings false /EndPage -1 /ImageMemory 1048576 /LockDistillerParams false /MaxSubsetPct 100 /Optimize true /OPM 1 /ParseDSCComments true /ParseDSCCommentsForDocInfo true /PreserveCopyPage true /PreserveDICMYKValues true /PreserveEPSInfo true /PreserveFlatness false /PreserveHalftoneInfo false /PreserveOPIComments false /PreserveOverprintSettings true /StartPage 1 /SubsetFonts true /TransferFunctionInfo /Apply /UCRandBGInfo /Preserve /UsePrologue false /ColorSettingsFile () /AlwaysEmbed [ true ] /NeverEmbed [ true ] /AntiAliasColorImages false /CropColorImages false /ColorImageMinResolution 300 /ColorImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK /DownsampleColorImages false /ColorImageDownsampleType /Average /ColorImageResolution 300 /ColorImageDepth -1 /ColorImageMinDownsampleDepth 1 /ColorImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000 /EncodeColorImages false /ColorImageFilter /DCTEncode /AutoFilterColorImages true /ColorImageAutoFilterStrategy /JPEG /ColorACSImageDict << /QFactor 0.76 /HSamples [2 1 1 2] /VSamples [2 1 1 2] >> /ColorImageDict << /QFactor 0.15 /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1] >> /JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict << /TileWidth 256 /TileHeight 256 /Quality 30 >> /JPEG2000ColorImageDict << /TileWidth 256 /TileHeight 256 /Quality 30 >> /AntiAliasGrayImages false /CropGrayImages false /GrayImageMinResolution 300 /GrayImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK /DownsampleGrayImages false /GrayImageDownsampleType /Average /GrayImageResolution 300 /GrayImageDepth -1 /GrayImageMinDownsampleDepth 2 /GrayImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000 /EncodeGrayImages false /GrayImageFilter /DCTEncode /AutoFilterGrayImages true /GrayImageAutoFilterStrategy /JPEG /GrayACSImageDict << /QFactor 0.76 /HSamples [2 1 1 2] /VSamples [2 1 1 2] >> /GrayImageDict << /QFactor 0.15 /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1] >> /JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict << /TileWidth 256 /TileHeight 256 /Quality 30 >> /JPEG2000GrayImageDict << /TileWidth 256 /TileHeight 256 /Quality 30 >> /AntiAliasMonoImages false /CropMonoImages false /MonoImageMinResolution 1200 /MonoImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK /DownsampleMonoImages false /MonoImageDownsampleType /Average /MonoImageResolution 300 /MonoImageDepth -1 /MonoImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000 /EncodeMonoImages false /MonoImageFilter /FlateEncode /MonoImageDict << /K -1 >> /AllowPSXObjects false /CheckCompliance [ /None ] /PDFX1aCheck false /PDFX3Check false /PDFXCompliantPDFOnly false /PDFXNoTrimBoxError true /PDFXTrimBoxToMediaBoxOffset [ 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 ] /PDFXSetBleedBoxToMediaBox true /PDFXBleedBoxToTrimBoxOffset [ 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 ] /PDFXOutputIntentProfile () /PDFXOutputConditionIdentifier () /PDFXOutputCondition () /PDFXRegistryName () /PDFXTrapped /False /CreateJDFFile false /Description << /ENU ([Based on 'No Compression'] [Based on 'No Compression wbleeed'] [Based on '[High Quality Print]'] Use these settings to create Adobe PDF documents for quality printing on desktop printers and proofers. 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