COLLECTING embryos from younger females or those that have died through in vitro fertilisation (IVF) could be an option for producers.
Despite most people opting to do IVF or conventional flushing on their mature females that have proven themselves, a lot of people are trying to do younger females too, according to Inventia Genetic Technologies' business development manager Dr Luiz Porto.
"Cows tend to produce more embryos and it is easier to do mature animals as they already have had a complete reproductive cycle, but a lot of people are trying to do 12-month-old calves," Dr Porto said.
"Production is not that easy as they don't produce as many embryos. So we have to ensure a balance of expectation of customers - that they may not get the same results."
Dr Porto said some people overseas had collected females at two to six months, but they had to be superovulated.
"As we prefer not to give FSH (follicle stimulating hormone), we don't recommend doing young calves," he said. Holbrook Breeders veterinarian Dr Stuart Geard said heifers didn't tend to go well in conventional flushing either.
"We still get people that want to get a genetic jump on others, but heifer embryos don't go as well," Dr Geard said. "What we find in heifers that have not hit puberty is that the embryos might look alright but have reduced conception rates verse mature donor embryos. You don't usually recover as many embryos in heifers verse cows either."
Dr Geard encouraged having clear expectations from the start. "With heifers and first calvers your expectation can't be as high as a four to eight-year-old cow," he said.
"Heifers can overstimulate to the FSH, while immature reproductive tracts often prevent the recovery of all embryos that are expected."
Embryos can also be collected from ovaries within two hours of a female dying using IVF procedures.
"We can collect ovaries from a site (such as a slaughterhouse) and process them there up to two hours after they have died," Dr Porto said.
"This means harvesting the ovaries, and is an option for producers but there is difficulties in ensuring we are close enough to do the collection within the time frame."