Reproduction Technologies in Agriculture

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okay everybody this is the last evening I'm  just gonna turn on my video here this is the last   evening for our educational virtual animal  science sessions for this year we've been   really pleased and grateful that you've all  been able to attend the sessions we've had   this year we've had beef carcass evaluation  we had and we have this session tonight that's   going to end our end our group for this year  so just a couple of things here related to   kind of housekeeping I'm just gonna show  a PowerPoint presentation for you all we   are going to entertain questions this evening by  looking at the bottom of your screen there will   be a q a box so if you've got any questions  for myself Dr Nate or Todd Taylor who's also   on this evening please feel free to put it in  the question the Q a box that's the best   way for me to kind of keep them organized Todd  and I are going to be managing the questions   on the on the back side while Dr Nate is  giving a presentation for you guys tonight   a couple of things looking forward to  a great evening but it all starts with   great listening and learning um and leaving  the chat alone and keeping your questions in   the the Q a portion for this evening it's a  different type of system a zoom webinar then   maybe you're you're used to like through school  you're not going to be able to see others tonight   and and so you any questions or interactions  that you want to do with the speakers or myself   please go ahead and do that through the question  and answer section okay the next slide is many of   you I know are interested in receiving Educational  Credit for this evening in order to show exhibit   sell at your county or local community fairs  so if you're interested or needing that type of   Educational Credit there's a form here it  was in the email you received so if you want to   make some notes tonight and put that on this form  you can go to the the form link that is in the   Q a for everyone to see you can click on that and  at the bottom of the page is a is a verification   form link that you can print this form out and  send it to your local County Fair organizational   and leadership group okay if you are interested  in keeping up with what's going on with you youth   Livestock in Wisconsin these are a number of  links in social media and lots of ways to keep   active with what's going on educationally through  the Wisconsin youth livestock program there's two   links to to two different websites to keep you  abreast of what's going on the YouTube channel   is very important all of the many years that we  have done this virtual programming is available   all the videos are available at the YouTube  channel and this evening's recording will be   available there as well after a few days after  tonight's session you will find it there and if   you've registered obviously you did if you're here  tonight you will get an email that illustrates   when that recording is ready to be to be viewed  because I know many could not make it tonight   and and we'll be viewing it viewing it  later Facebook Instagram are the two   popular social media sites that we keep  events and scholarships and any type of   State Fair any type of event that you might  be interested in will be posted there so   please make sure you like or follow those two  social media Outlets uh Twitter we have a Twitter   um handle but we don't really use it that much  so Instagram's kind of our game these days   and then tonight after the program is over  please fill out the survey when you close Zoom   tonight it should kick you over to the survey  that we have for you to fill out and we'd love to   hear from you what other topics would you like to  hear about what other things interest you and will   definitely try and get them into the cycle for next winter spring verif programs that we offer   okay so I think at this point I'm going to stop  my share again we almost got 100 people on here   tonight so that's great to see in in and be able  to share out what Dr Nate's going to talk about   tonight related to reproduction technology so  I'm gonna to share his PowerPoint presentation   and then quickly give a little introduction of Dr  Nate so Dr Nate is a veterinarian up in the middle   part of the state he'll give quite a bit of his  background but I wanted to share out that he's   been doing a lot of work and kind of this is his  gig right this reproduction area of of animals and   he started his work in the dairy world and  he's moved into lots of other species since   then and so we wanted to bring him on to talk  about all the neat ways that we have grown in   the reproduction area in terms of technology  that is available to us to be able to really   genetically select right the superior and high  quality livestock that we are looking for across   all species from dairy to beef to sheep to to  swine and and even goats is become a part of Dr   Nate's practice so we're pleased that he's here  Todd Taylor who is the Sheep unit manager at   UW Madison who utilizes Dr Nate quite often is  here to support the the presentation tonight    as as we have done a lot of that type of work this  type of work at the UW sheep unit station so   with that I'm going to pass it over to Dr Nate  again Nate thanks for being with us tonight   yes uh thank you Bernie uh can you  guys hear me okay yes all right super   um yes well thank you I'm very pleased to  be here and talk with all of you a little   bit about uh small ruminant uh in particular  sheep Advanced reproduction um so I'm gonna   just uh tell you a little bit about myself my  background first if we go to the next slide   um but I received my doctor of veterinary medicine  from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2006.   uh so I've been practicing for about 15 years  and like Bernie mentioned uh initially um I mean   actually initially I was a general practitioner I  did all farm animals general surgery and medicine   but ultimately uh kind of kind of focused my  work on Advanced reproduction in Dairy and   beef cattle and over the years as that all grew um  there's been a lot of things that have happened so   um in we we not only house donors uh Dairy and  beef cattle up to about 160 cattle here at a farm   um just down the road uh from our office um  but we've also developed our own internal uh   IVF laboratory and we're going to talk  a little bit about IVF down the road   um but a big part of my passion has been uh  developing emerging embryo export markets   all around the world so exporting embryos  all around the world I sit on uh a number   of committees that work with the U.S  government to help develop these markets   um and it's really been quite interesting because  I'll just say that although Dairy and beef have   had a lot of interest in in exports I'm starting  to get a lot of inquiries from countries we work   with about small ruminant embryos as well so I I'm  pretty excited about the future and I think in the   next 10 years or so um we might be exporting a lot  of sheep and goat embryos all around the world as   well so uh but we specialize in conventional  flushing as well as ovum pickup and I'll   talk to you about these Technologies a little bit  later but ovum pick up for in vitro fertilization   um and like I said we have our own in-house  IVF lab so um going to the next slide here   um so we're going to talk a little bit about  lap AI so laparoscopic artificial insemination   in sheep and goats and then at the end  of this I think Bernie's going to play   um a video of us actually doing this live uh  last weekend uh we're going to talk a little   bit about surgical embryo collection uh as well  as uh how we would transfer embryos and cryo   preserve them or freeze them for later use I'll  show you some pictures of of some embryos and   we'll talk a little bit about stages and grades  and then I think the really exciting part about   this presentation and this does get a little a  little bit high level here but laparoscopic ovum   pickup and in vitro embryo production and this  really is going to be the future uh for sheep   and goat uh producers uh throughout the country  and then finally why we do what we do so that's   the uh what I'd like to talk about here with you  guys today and we can go ahead to the next slide so laparoscopic AI   um why we need to do laparoscopic artificial  insemination in small ruminants is because of   course of their size they're too small for us to  uh manipulate uh per rectum to pass the cervix   um additionally sheep and goats have notoriously  very uh very difficult cervixes to pass they're   they're very difficult to pass an AI insemination  rod and and inseminate them uh transcervically so   passing the cervix right so this method was  developed this laparoscopic AI method was   developed and is highly effective and you can see  me here doing this procedure we will sedate the U   and put them in a cradle and many of you may be  familiar with this process already who put them   in a cradle and tip them up so that all of their  internal organs and their their intestines and   their rumen will will fall down away from uh their  reproductive tract we will then inflate their   abdomen with some carbon dioxide basically just  to give us a little room to see what we're doing   and and then we'll go ahead and and put these  trocars in which you can see in this picture   here put a couple of trocars which are basically  just a a Gateway or a window into the abdomen and   um through one of the troll cars you'll see  I have a laparoscope which will allow me to   visualize what what is inside the abdomen and  then through the other uh trocar we will place   the insemination Rod um and I think you'll see  this in the video later but the insemination Rod   has a needle at the at the very end of it and a  semen straw so a straw of Frozen or or fresh semen   um loaded into that gun and I will go ahead  and basically stab uh that needle into each   uh side of the uterine horn and inject the um  the semen into each uterine horn so you see on   the right here this is a picture of what  I'm looking at this is the uterine horns   um of of a u that's showing very a very great  esterus here she's she's in good heat very good   heat got lots of tone and edema this is exactly  what I want to see when I get in um to visualize   the uterus so that they're toned up they're red  they're edematous it's standing right up looking   at me and that's that's this is a we code these  uh from one to three this is a a three as far as   um a quality of the the heat that she's showing  so um so this is just a little bit about the   lamp AI procedure and I did want to spend a little  more time on this because um you know this is the   the gateway to all of our Advanced reproduction  that we are going to be doing in small ruminants   um so to talk a little bit about um you know the  the highlights of this procedure and I did mention   it's easier to pass um uh the convoluted cervical  rings and small ruminants so there's that but then   also we can directly deposit the semen into the  uterus if it's a poor quality semen sample we're   going to achieve higher pregnancy rates from  that semen uh it's also it's also just a very   efficient use of processed semen if we need  to we can even split those straws of semen   between multiple U's and just really optimize  the use of uh every single ejaculate from a ram   um ultimately we can achieve higher  pregnancy rates and more efficient use of   um of that Rams ejaculate we'll  go on to the next slide now um and I do just want to mention that it really  is a team effort um when we're doing these in the   field and I have my whole team there working we're  cranking these out every probably 90 seconds to to   two minutes um just a very efficient process  we all have our roles and uh we have a team   that's sedating uh getting them up on the the  cradles clipping and scrubbing and prepping them   um blocking the surgical sites I have somebody  thawing semen for me and handing it to me and   literally I'm just sitting on my stool uh and  just uh you know inserting the troll cars and   and inseminating the use and we can do hundreds  of these in a day uh pretty efficiently so I just   I really do want to acknowledge that it really is  a team effort um and uh very appreciative of the   great team that I have here at Generations  so we'll go ahead to the next slide now and   um so now I want to just kind of shift gears a  little bit and talk about Embryo transfer so um   the advantages of embryo transfer are that we can  basically have more offspring per donor per year   also it helps us to really Drive genetic progress  and the two primary ways that that's happening   is through selection intensity and generation  intervals now selection intensity you can just   think of this very simply as if you have a herd of  a hundred or a flock excuse me of a hundred use if   you pick the top u in your flock to propagate her  genetics that is selection intensity instead of   um you know breeding all of them maybe you  just take the very top you and propagate   her genetic line so that's a very high level  of selection intensity generation interval   is uh the time frame from uh the birth of an  offspring until she herself becomes a donor   and if we can decrease that time frame we are  going to amplify the rate of genetic progress   um so I did just want to mention those couple of  key uh genetic uh you know progress parameters   that are really important and actually sheep sheep  and goats alike and kind of have an advantage as   far as they have a shorter gestation interval to  begin with so this is something that can really   uh really intensify the rate of genetic  progress Within These breeds and species um so I'm not going to talk too much about  merchandising or exports or biosecurity I   did mention I think it's going to be um  some huge potential down the road as far   as a revenue Source uh but that's something  that'll be coming here in the next 10 years   I do want to mention adaptability though  so embryos acquire passive immunity from   their recipient donors so if we were to take an  embryo from a farm in Wisconsin and transfer it   into a recipient in California they might have  different diseases or pathogens on their Farm   different bacteria or viruses that are threats  um and if we were just to take a sheep and haul   it across the country and unload it at a farm in  California it might struggle it might struggle   to survive when it gets hit with some uh  bacteria or virus it has not seen before   but with an embryo because it's born from the you  that's within that flock she she will be conferred   um some passive immunity from that recipient  that will protect her so this this is a really   important concept that gives Embryo transfer just  a huge Edge as far as biosecurity and adaptability   and it holds true not only from flock to flock  from state to state but also country to Country   if we're exporting embryos um so this is a really  important concept as far as providing immunity you   know to to Native pathogens that might exist  on any given flock or in any given country   okay moving on can you just quickly say uh  Nate Dr Nate sorry to interrupt but can you   just talk a little bit about Embryo transfer  and you know like in the cattle World Dairy   and beef we've been doing this for a long  time as you know per your picture there   um can you just talk a little bit about like  differences in species in in some in especially   as it relates to this Embryo transfer and  other AI Technologies yeah absolutely no   thank you Bernie that's a great point and um so  yeah and I so you can see here in these pictures   um the picture in the upper right is um  how we used to do this procedure in the 70s   um we would put donor cows under general  anesthesia okay so they were intubated   and they were under gas anesthesia for this  procedure we it was a surgical procedure you could   see the surgeons have they're draped in they are  surgically um collecting these embryos you know   their their exteriorizing the uterus and you can  see in the picture on the upper left we have the   tip of the uterine horn and the ovary uh this is  actually an ovary that has been super stimulated   and each of those little red nodules is a CL a  corpus luteum each representing one ovulation and   one potential embryo that could be recovered uh  and and so here they are surgically flushing you   can maybe just vaguely see uh a tomcat catheter  coming out of the uterine the tip of the uterine   horn and into this little petri dish they're  holding and they're flushing the uterine horn   so this is where the embryos are seven days old  they're in the uterine horn and they're flushing   those out so this is a in Vivo collection in Vivo  Vivo meaning in within the body okay so the donor   is incubating those embryos she was inseminated  and she incubated those embryos for seven days   and now we're flushing them out this is how the  process used to be done uh up until you know I   would say the uh the late 70s when actually at our  own University of Wisconsin-Madison Dr Bob Rowe   um helped to innovate and discover a  non-surgical method to flush donors   um interestingly using a human urinary catheter  we can do this non-surgically of course it's far   less expensive far less invasive much much safer  for the donor and much faster so that all of that   brought the price point way down and made this  technology far more accessible for all of our   producers um so so this is it's good historical  content to understand this is where we came from   and it was only you know 30 40 years ago and  and look where we've come so uh We've really   Advanced quite a long ways now having said all  that in small ruminance and I'm sorry maybe I'm   diverging here a little bit but having said all  that with small ruminants we cannot again you know   manipulate the cervix and the uterine horns per  rectum obviously they're they're very small right   so so so we are still surgically collecting  uh sheep and goats uh by this same method   um but I'm going to talk a little later about  what the future of of that industry will be   so is it is that what you were kind of hoping for  Bernie yes that was great yep very good very good   so I Advanced your side for you awesome so we'll  move on so Nate one question did come in you can   answer this later if you want but there was a  question about what you charge to inseminate   use and I'm assuming on a probably on a per head  basis so I don't know if you want to touch on that   later just yeah yeah I can and I can send out  our price list and some information about us   um it really kind of depends on the volume if  we're doing one or we're doing a hundred you know   um but uh but yeah we can  talk about that later for sure   so um so so like I said now we are still with  small ruminants because they are so small we   have to do this surgically so these are some  great pictures here of us uh here my team at   generations and this is this is us doing these  surgical collections um you can see I'll just   say down the bottom left there's a diagram of  this human urinary catheter and how it works with   um with cattle you know we'll pass that through  the cervix and it's got a balloon that we can   inflate and that balloon that we inflate it's two  things it holds the Foley catheter in place you   know it holds it in one spot but it also will  isolate one uterine horn to be flushed so um   you can see beyond the balloon there's the tip of  the catheter that has ports in it and we will then   uh flush media in through those ports and  isolate that right horn flush media in   massage it around and then flush it back out  uh and once it comes back out we send it down   um there's a Y connector Junction where there's  an inflow and an outflow so we we go inflow we   flush we massage and then it comes back out and  we send it down the outflow and it goes travels   to it and I don't have a good picture of this but  travels to a filter and that filter will filter   out any of the embryos and we can search for  those under the microscope so this is the Foley   catheter method of flushing donors we in essence  use this same method uh with sheep and ghosts   but we still have to exteriorize the uterus so um  and I think I have a better picture of this later   um but the middle picture you can see I'm  actually suturing up both sites where we placed   um the Foley catheter and the flushy torn  so I'm just kind of suturing up the uterus   here in the middle picture and then on  the picture on the right we have another   um really nice ovary that's been super ovulated  and you can see lots of Corpus luteums or CLS   there and I believe this donor she I believe  she gave us it was around 17 I think it was 17   nice embryos from this donor that's just  one ovary that we have exterior eyes so   um but uh so those are just some pictures  I'm not gonna get in to the details of how   we do this other than to just say that um you  definitely need to be fairly skilled surgically   um and then also you really need to know what  you're doing when it comes to embryo evaluation   how to handle embryos and how to freeze them um so  this is uh this is something that takes a little   time to develop and get get proficient at so if  we go on to the surgical embryo collection slide   you can see here I think yeah okay so um well it's  actually a goad up on the left that we were doing   um in the middle picture you can see both the both  uterine horns and uh the ovary one of the ovaries   that has CLS on it um so that's a nice picture  there and then on the right this is the actual   process of how we do this you can see um we are  literally injecting a syringe full of flush media   through the distal tip the very the very end  of the uterine horn and then we have the Foley   catheter is coming out here towards the base so  you can almost you can almost even appreciate   a little bit of a bulge there where the Foley  catheter is uh inflated at the base of the uterine   horn kind of holding it in place and just flushing  that one side um so we're injecting the syringe   it's going through the entire uterus and then  flowing out the fully and being collected in that   um that conical uh clear conical vial that uh my  assistant with the purple glove is holding um so   that that's the process in a nutshell literally  flushing I mean it is what it sounds like we're   flushing the uterus out uh and we hope we're  going to collect those those embryos at the end so embryo classification um and we're  not going to talk too much about this   um if anybody is interested in learning more about  embryology come talk to me later send me an email   uh you can come do a ride along with us and uh  this is what we're passionate about this is what   we're really good at is embryology um this is  really the the fun part of our our business so   um I'm just gonna say that the international  embryo technology Society has set standards for   us to try to you know become standardized as an  industry as far as how we stage their development   and and also how we grade uh their quality  but that's all we really need to say about   embryo classification for this uh presentation  and uh then the next slide is more of the same   um again we're just talking about the  quality um and this might maybe more of   a bovine slide I would say actually with with  small ruminants grade one embryos I mean we   can hit 70 80 percent all day long uh so these  numbers are probably a little a little bit low   um small ruminants do tend to be uh fairly  uh fertile when it comes to pregnancy rates   um so uh so yeah that's all we need to say there  and then um on the transfer of fresh embryos   um there are a number of methods to transfer  embryos into a recipient um you can kind of do a   method like I showed you with the laparoscopic AI  where again you're kind of stabbing with a needle   into the uterine horn and injecting it kind of  like a straw semen um for us personally uh and   then there's a completely surgical method but for  us personally we really like the hybrid method   um it's kind of hard to explain but it's  a little bit of both we do exteriorize the   uterine horn and we'll use a tomcat catheter  to inject the embryo into the uterus but   um we feel it gives us the best pregnancy rates  and we're really happy with that method um the only other real important thing I would say is  um and again I know you guys are all at different   levels as far as your understanding on this so but  you should know this is something you should know   that the corpus luteum or the CL is what secretes  the hormone progesterone okay progesterone Pro   gestate progesterone it's for pregnancy okay  and so that CL is what maintains pregnancy   so when I'm looking for that structure on the  ovary I need to place the embryo on the same side   as the corpus luteum we have two uterine horns  we have a left and a right uterine horn and I   need to find the corpus luteum identify that  structure the embryo needs to be transferred   on the same side as the corpus luteum so that's  an important Point uh hormonally physiologically   um it's same with humans all mammals um  so a really fundamental point right there   um that that's a big part of what we do when we're   transferring embryos identify the CL  transfer the embryo onto that same side sounds simple enough right Okay so  cryopreservation or we commonly call it freezing   um we can freeze embryos for later transfer uh  we do this with a controlled rate freezer it's   a machine uh does a really nice job and we use  liquid nitrogen to modulate the temperature uh   to slowly drop that temperature in a way  to cryo preserve the embryo very complex   um you know biological process and uh would  love to discuss it with somebody if you're ever   interested it's fascinating but the the take  home message here is um we can freeze embryos   indefinitely and they will remain viable they  will take a small hit in viability at the time   of freezing like on the way down uh and they will  take a small hit when you thaw them on the way up   but that length of time in between uh could be  literally could be 30 seconds uh two days or   two million years and nothing will happen to the  viability for that embryo um as long as it stays   um at those liquid nitrogen temperatures which  is what negative 380 degrees C or something like   that so um so that's that's a really key  Point too and in fact the U.S government   um has a bank of uh they they are trying to  uh collect all of the you know mammals and all   the embryos that they can you know from all the  different cattle species sheep and goats and zoo   animals and they actually keep a bank of Frozen  embryos just in case we should ever need to try   to repopulate kind of like a Noah's Ark right um  so it's really it's really interesting and they   they keep this bank and they have that in place  just in case we ever need to repopulate any of our   um uh not only uh agricultural species but other  species as well so uh it's also very convenient   and inexpensive you can store these long-term  very cheaply they're a very small package   um so it's a very convenient  way to uh to store uh genetics   if we look at pregnancy rates um there's many  many factors that go into this recipient quality   um you know skill of the veterinarian doing  the procedure like we mentioned the quality   of the embryo itself is huge um and then  the source of the embryo in Vivo or in vitro   um a little bit lower pregnancy rates within  vitro and um if we are if we have Frozen embryos   we're probably going to have about a 10 point  drop in pregnancy rate versus fresh embryos so I just want to introduce you a little bit to  IVF now um so IDF or in vitro fertilization in   vitro means outside of the body so outside of  the body is where these are being grown where   they're being fertilized and where they're being  cultured so what we do with IVF is we will harvest   unfertilized eggs or oocytes or recovering  these directly from the ovaries of a donor   uh buy a needle that's connected to a vacuum  system those oocytes are matured for about one   day and then we fertilize them with semen that's  considered Day Zero and then we culture those   for six more days uh before we either transfer or  freeze those embryos and again the important part   here is that the fertilization and the culture  is all happening outside of the body so again   in vitro okay so this is a picture on the left  of uh some beautiful oocytes that we recovered   so unfertilized eggs or oocytes they look very  different than embryos they have all this big   poofy cloudy uh cumulus cells that we we call  them cumulus cells surrounding the oocytes those   cumulus cells are an indicator of the health  of the oocyte the more the better so this is a   beautiful group of oocytes here they go into the  IVF lab Gretchen and my team they do their thing   um they fertilize them they culture them and then  the picture on the right is a really beautiful   group of IVF produced embryos from our lab and  and some of them are they're even hatching and   and those hatching embryos are the ones that  are kind of they're they're cracked out of   their shell and they're kind of elongating so  you can see that there there's a few of those so if we go to the process of IVF and you  may recognize this guy here up at the top   um that's uh that's our friend Todd and I found  this picture on on the internet so I thought I   might as well just use it but here's here's a  group of uh apparently some show winners that   Todd had uh so these will be donors here  today uh representing this this schematic it is isn't it I love it that's great oh shoot  but yeah you can see here um so in this is just   a schematic of the process we would retrieve the  oocytes and on the left you can see a picture of   the stimulated ovary you can kind of make out  these blister like structures on the ovary so   each of those is a follicle and you can see my  troll car coming in and it's not a great picture   but you could I'm stabbing a needle a fine needle  into each of those follicles and we're sucking out   the contents the follicular fluid we're removing  those contents and we hope that the oocyte will   come out with uh that fluid and we don't it's not  a one for one but hopefully 50 to 70 percent of   the time will recover um an oocyte so then we're  we fertilize those in vitro and then uh they're   cultured for five to seven days and there's  another beautiful picture of some embryos and uh   transfer them into recipients and we hopefully  we get a bunch of nice Lambs on the ground sorry can you guys still am I still on here yeah yep great very good all right so we  are almost done here a couple of last slides   um we are partnering with a few different groups  to do some research on improving the um efficacy   of uh sheep IDF it's not perfect we have a long  ways to go we're working on this and I'm going to   hit on this a little bit later but I did just want  to make mention and show a few pictures of some of   the uh some of our friends and colleagues that we  are working with uh to develop these procedures   including uh some of you may know but RSG this  is Logan Dr Logan down at RSG uh in Indiana   all right so once we collect the oocytes  we're going to search wash and grade them   um that's on the next there we go um so again  this is a beautiful picture a huge collection   of os sites from a actually a bovine donor um I  will admit uh but a really pretty picture of some   OS sites there you can see some of those oocytes  are a little bit what we would call strips they   don't have as much cumulus cells on them um they  can still make an embryo just maybe not quite to   the degree that the ones that have lots of cumulus  cells with um but so uh and and the really cool   thing about osis I don't know if you guys can see  it but in that upper right picture in in well five   um oversights have enough cumulus cells that  you can actually see them with the naked eye   especially on like a black heating stage  like we have here so you might be able to   to appreciate in well five this is the exact  same photo you're looking at um on the left   in the right so you can actually see them it's a  lot harder to see embryos uh than it is OS sites okay if we go to OSI grading and I'm I'm not  going to get into this either too much um uh   but I think you guys will be able to appreciate  the picture on the left and the picture on the   right okay they look very different um and this is  what we do as embryologists um maybe to a little   bit higher level but I think you guys can all  appreciate here that on the left these are what   we would consider degenerate or a tretic oocytes  they're they're dying like these are not viable   and on the right these are very healthy oocyte so  visually this is what we're doing as embryologists   um and uh we're applying that kind of science um details and preparation so you know AI  conception rates are a predictor of the   success of an ET program on any given Farm or in  any given flock I mean they go hand in hand I mean   it's gonna indicate Your Health Nutrition status  vaccination status all these things are going to   go into helping us achieve a very high level of  of success um not only in AI but embryo transfer   um work with your local veterinarian vaccinations  deworming at least 30 days prior um if you want   to have a successful ET program you know have  an increasing plan of nutrition at least 45   days prior to the flush um that's where that word  actually came from the flush you know so get them   on an increasing plane of nutrition free choice  minerals is huge great body condition scoring   um we want them increasing in body condition  score not going down it's not just a snapshot   in time it's more important which direction  they're going so those are some important   details uh to keep in mind uh and then as far  as when to transport recipients or lap AI uh   um recipients or or donors even for that matter  um we really just want to decrease stress okay   uh I prefer they were only uh you know transported  the day of lap AI or the day of flush or transfer   and then leave them in their cohort groups for um  you know at least 45 days that's that's the bottom   line like leave them within their cohort groups  for at least 45 days after the procedure if you   really want to optimize your your results um it's  just as simple as that stress the stress hormone   cortisol it will decrease fertility and it's very  real um I I can document it many many times over   um all right so finally here advantages of  IVF um it is the um quickest commercially   available technology for genetic progress  we could do these collections every couple   of weeks even every five days if we want uh we  can do pregnant donors because we are bypassing   the uterus completely we're just going to the  ovary so we can do pregnant donors you can do   ulams or pre-pubertal donors uh a donor that has  fertility problems there are so many advantages   that IDF has uh a terminal genetic rescue you  have a valuable you that um maybe she she broke   her leg or something terrible happened to her and  she is not going to survive well we have one last   chance at harvesting her ovaries and doing a  terminal session so um you know there are so   many advantages to IVF we can use expensive or  rare semen split it among multiple donors you   know we can put it in you know in an IVF lab  we can take that one unit of semen and put it   in many different Wells and fertilize a lot of  different donors you can't really do that with   lap AI so bottom line is you can get more progeny  per donor per year with a wider variety of mavings   um and you basically increase the productive  donor lifespan and this is really the key point   that I want to hammer hone um you know we can  do these surgical flushes on donors but after   two or three flushes they will develop a lot of  what we call adhesions um basically Scar Tissue   on the inside which makes it you know really  really tough to do the procedure again and again   um and it gets to be almost you know even  considering an animal welfare consideration   at some point so this is really advantage of IVF  is it's very it's it's not invasive at all and we   can do these donors very often without creating  Scar Tissue so again it increases the donor's   lifespan from a productive embryo standpoint  and uh ultimately will allow us to produce more   offsprings per donor per year now the disadvantage  is however it is expensive the equipment is   expensive it is technically challenging and IVF  embryos do have a little bit of a lower pregnancy   rate than conventionally produced embryos but  the biggest disadvantage right now is sheep   is that it's still in basically research and  development although we can achieve very high   uh embryo production with cattle beef and dairy  cattle and even very good production with goats   um sheep for whatever reason uh they're  being very challenging they are tough   um and this is a huge part of uh r d for many IDF  labs around the country everybody is working on   trying to improve the culture ability of uh sheep  in vitro produced embryos and I think we're going   to get there within a year within a year or maybe  two years tops uh it's going to be a technology   that is going to really revolutionize uh the small  room industry finally uh just why we do what we do   um this is about sustainability and feeding the  world and these are statistics from the cattle   side of things but they're very noteworthy and and  the same holds true uh for sheep as well but the   world population is growing uh by 2050 they're  talking 9.7 billion um it's it's it's insane um  

but because of genetic selection and advancement  and and what we do uh to propel that industry   forward um you can look at these numbers they  speak for themselves it's it's really incredible   um but in the last 70 years we have 21 fewer cows  they're being fed 23 less we're using 35 percent   less water 10 percent less land 24 less manure  and and the carbon emissions is 37 reduction   um it's just this is this is largely um this is  largely because of the genetic progress that we've   made Within These breeds and the same will hold  true for sheep and goats so with that I thank you   for your time and uh be happy to entertain any  questions yeah um so great job thanks Dr name   I'm just gonna bring up the video um and as I do  that can you just share out some like um obviously   you're a veterinarian and you went through a  number of years of school to kind of do this work   you know what what might be some career options  for people who are interested in reproduction   in in this work but may not want to become a  veterinarian but still wants to engage in this   area of animal sciences and dairy science yeah  great question so I mean we employ and businesses   like myself are looking to hire individuals  who want to help us manage our donor herds   um be embryologists work in our IVF lab work  shoot side with me um collecting donors um   you know going on big lap AI days and working  on surgical prep um and thawing semen so all   all of those all of those areas um you know if  you're not interested in becoming a veterinarian   there are plenty of other opportunities to to  still become very involved in this industry excellent great so here I am I'm going to play  the video and um this was the video that we had   captured from uh the animal science uh sheep well  the Sheep uh what is it Todd the the uh Wisconsin   sheep uh breeders annual meeting and their  educational program and uh Dr Nate did this this   presentation and so I'm just gonna play it that um  what what the so I'm just gonna have Dr Nate kind   of talk over what they're doing and we'll get a u  on a cradle here really quickly to show you what   um actually all this is in real time so I'll  mute myself and and pass this to Dr Nate   okay yeah so um in so right now they are uh  they're clipping they're clipping a neck on a u   um and I'm going to sedate her uh with  uh a little cocktail of torb ketamine and   xylazine uh this this uh chemical cocktail  has worked really well as a sedative for us   um so you're gonna see me  doing that here in a little bit   um so right here I'm holding off the jugular  vein and it's going to become distended and   you can't really see it well but I'm basically  injecting this cocktail right now I and that's   going IV so intravenously and again this is  something normally my technicians would be doing um so you'll see me I'm trying to do all  of it today I didn't have I did not have   technicians here uh for this but again just to  kind of piggyback on Bernie's earlier question   um these are all aspects of things  that somebody could help support   um or be involved with uh if if they were  interested so you can see she she knocked   out really really quickly here we got her up we  lifted her up on the Cradle um they're going to   secure all of her all four legs we have some giant  twist ties that work really well for this purpose   um so we're getting her you can see how  well sedated she is she is knocked out   um so yeah we're getting we're getting those  twist ties on there and then they're going   to start clipping and prepping here  we go oops so they're clipping her up   Todd's doing the sheer job and then here's where   um Holly right Dr Holly is helping  prepare the area of right Dr Nate   that's right yep Holly is open here so Holly  is one of the veterinarians for the University   um and she's uh she's been great she's we work  with Holly quite a bit and she's helping us out   here uh getting them all all uh cleaned up we  use a we use uh some chlorhexidine and we use   um some alcohol to make sure that that surgical  site is as clean as it can possibly be there we   go fast and fast forwarding through uh this part  and this is where you're kind of talking about the   light in your scope and some of the pieces I may  have gone a little bit too far but yeah TrueCar yeah go ahead nope right here this is where you're  here I'm giving a lidocaine block so I'm doing a   local anesthetic procedure we're using lidocaine  to block locally right where my chokers are going   to go through so troll cars are again it's like a  window like I said uh you'll see those I'm gonna   put those through her abdomen but with this little  bit of Lidocaine that I put on both sides now   she's not going to be able to feel that so they're  going to wheel her over and put her in place here yeah one thing I know there was a question  earlier on is you know if this puts a lot of   pressure on the on the diaphragm and causes you  to have trouble breathing these use were held   off of feed and water for 24 hours so the rumen is  empty their bladder is theoretically empty as well   um and typically when Nate is doing this and he's  got his whole team there she's only going to be   inclined for probably you know 45 seconds to two  minutes at the most if he's struggling to get the   semen in her so this is a little longer this  one was took a little bit longer than typical   because Nate didn't have anybody there getting  the semen straws loaded for him but when he does   these views are not upside down for very long at  all and and again as I said it's real critical   that you hold them off of feeding water for that  24 hours minimum as well just to help take that   pressure off of the diaphragm and off of the lungs  but in order to get to the the uterine horns we've   got to Incline him to get all those intestines  to fall away from the reproductive tract yeah   that's exactly right Todd 100 like if we have my  whole team there we're gonna crank through these   um yeah I would say a minute to two  minutes like that's it they'll only be   up for that long but yeah we have to have them  inverted in this position so all the viscera   or GI you know everything kind of fall away  from the uterine horn I you maybe missed it   there I I insufflated her with some CO2 so  I can see I inserted now my my laparoscope   and I was looking through there to identify  that I was in the right location and I was   um and then I'm gonna go ahead and put in the  other troll car on the other side where you can   see where I blocked a little blood there so I'm  gonna put that other trochar in and that's where   um that location is where we will place the AI gun  with the loaded semen straw okay so and I'm just   kind of manipulating and looking around making  sure everything looks good want to make sure we   have a clean stick and we're not going to be um  we don't have intestines or the bladder or any   of these other structures in the way so yeah  here's where I have to go around and thaw the   semen for myself ordinarily he would have been  inseminated by now and then down off the table   um but so here we are which is good you  can see here so I grab the straw semen   put it in the the water bath and we're thawing  it right now how long does it stay in the water   bath uh Dr Nate yeah so 60 to 90 seconds it can be  longer but um excuse me um really importantly you   know we got to make sure we wipe all the water  off of the semen straw because that water will   um will damage the semen if it makes contact so  once I pull that out you'll see me I'll wipe that   off really good uh there we are so cleaning off  all the water off that the the exterior of the   seam ends Raw and uh actually have to go get a  scissors here to cut the the semen straw open   so I do that and then we load it into the AI  gun so you'll see this here in just a minute and as he's doing that Holly's monitoring the you  and managing her to make sure she's doing okay yep Dr Holly that is yep and so here I'm loading  it up and I'm gonna actually Advance the tip of   the gun just to make sure that I you pull off  the protective cover I want to make sure that   I see a drop of semen coming out the very tip of  that needle and I did so I'm gonna go ahead now   and yeah again like I was saying when Nate's  got his whole crew there he's got one person   that's dedicated to just loading those  semen straws for him and he's typically   got one straw loaded and another one you know  ready to be loaded especially if they know   if we've got to use sorted and they're  coming through right where we're using   the same RAM on a group of five or six use  you know they can pull up a straw ahead and   have it in the water bath thawing while  he's Ai and you ahead of her so it just   goes that quickly as long as you have the crew  there that can keep it going steady for Nate and while he's doing this too the other part  you know just to kind of keep in mind is you   know many of you who are buying cattle or project  animals sheep swine you know beef many of your   project animals may be going through um or or  our progeny of AI work or ET work so um there's   investment in your projects to be high quality so  um it's kind of neat to see this reproduction on   the backside which is maybe not something you  see so I'll be quiet so Dr Nate can describe   this yeah no you're good and um I I wish we  had a video so you could see what I'm looking   at and that's something I think we should work  with maybe we can do that for for a future year   um but uh but that that was it there it was I  injected it we're all good I let out some of the   CO2 from the abdomen um very minimal bleeding it's  very again very non-invasive procedure I do like   to put in a staple or two it's basically a suture  a metal suture that'll fall out within a few weeks   um so we like to do that just to be extra  cautious but really you don't need to it's   such a small incision and the way we enter the  abdomen at an angle it closes itself up kind of   um but that that that's it and uh like Todd said I  mean normally uh this is uh like we probably would   have had five of them done in that time if if we  had our whole team we were kind of cruising along   here so uh we do like to put a little bit of a  biological bandage uh that's uh some aluminum   spray and we like to cover them with one injection  of an antibiotic like uh like oxytet and then you   gave um I think an antibiotic right um to this you  or you do give that correct yeah we like to use   oxytetry yep okay um so yeah I guess I just wanted  to reiterate that um you know just in terms of   what uh Dr Nate has talked about it with expense  and all those things that you know just keep   that in mind when you're looking for your project  animals some of you maybe have everything already   for this year sheep and pigs are you're certain  to go through that process or have completed them   and again many of your your animals are coming  from these types of reproductive Technologies   um so right increasing advancement of your  higher quality animals to be able to then   uh be able to right sell them as project animals  for students and youth to show and so you can see   they took her off the cradle and they give her a  little minute to to wake up here here's that oxy   um uh antibiotic shot and then I  think it was just a few minutes   later she was up I don't know if we have  a if the video captures that or not but   um yeah anything else you want to kind of end  with your Dr Nate or in in Todd 2 any other   comments related to uh this technology and just  like how it's advancing the the world of genetics yeah I mean I don't know Todd do you have any  thoughts on this you know I just I think from   from an advantage standpoint the biggest thing  for me and the reason we're using it here is   it's getting harder and harder to find the ram  genetics that we want and be able to afford them   from a standpoint of buying the buck that we need  and and by this method we can bring in different   semen on different Rams and try them on different  use we maintain some biosecurity that way as well   um and that's actually it's helping me go back  and find some older genetics that I know breeders   put up 10 15 years ago still have a little bit of  that semen left and I can utilize it uh to try to   go back to stuff that I knew worked years ago so  that's the biggest reason we're using it on the   embryo transfer side we've just started to kind  of get into that and again that's to kind of more   or less proliferate our high quality females that  we really want to get more actually what I really   want out of those females is more daughters to go  ahead and replace them within the flock so that   you know we can we can substantially increase our  genetic Superior use and have more her daughters   out of those used for the Next Generation or two  generations or three generations however many so   um so it's it's definitely got its advantages  the the the IVF stuff really excites me I'm   looking forward to helping and working with  Nate a little bit on that in the future and   see if you know if we can make some of those  kind of techniques come to fruition and sheep   because I think that'll be that'll be really  good since this is a surgical technique in   shape the number of times that we can flush  use is is probably limited a little bit more   than it is in cattle so if we can get to  where we don't have to do the full surgery   and and can aspirate or aspirate over off  of them I think we can do more with females   than what we can with even the ET stuff so  yeah yeah absolutely and I I think on the   the IVF thing what a lot of our clients are  saying what they're really excited about is   um that generation interval that I mentioned being  able to collect these U Lambs the same year I mean   you think about how quickly we can turn this I  mean it it's it's pretty uh it's insane really awesome all right well I it is just a little  after eight I um really appreciate both Todd   and Dr Nate's time tonight I always learn more  and more every time I listen to a reproduction   um presentation because every year there's more  advancements there's more learned uh knowledge   and they're putting it into practice so um I  think this type of Technology fascinates me   and it's always one of those things that is ever  changing and it's something to keep up to date as   a producer and an exhibitor because there's  always that importance of in increasing and   right having available high quality animals  and um for food consumption products wool   um you know Dairy eggs all the things that  we consume that are high levels and dense   protein that you know right reproduction  really is the beginning of all that so   um yeah I just want to thank you guys for being  on great questions tonight this is the last one   as I mentioned for for this year I'm just gonna  remind you of two things one to make sure you   fill out the uh survey and that'll be up  on uh the uh once you close Zoom tonight   you'll be able to hurry up and do that and we'd  love to hear from you what other activities and   topics you want to hear more about and then um  of course look for us um for the the recording   I'll send an email out about that and then look  for us really the in the fall of the year we'll   start making announcements for the next year's  topics and we'd love for you to participate   um next year as well again don't forget here  at this link is that educational verification   form so if you need to get verification from your  county fair or local area that you've attended it   something that's educational and you learned you  know five new things and and you're going to share   out three new ideas to your friends and family or  other folks you'd like to share about this session   um please write that in that verification  form and turn it into your local people uh   please don't send it to me although I love to  read what you learned um it's really for your   local fair uh show and sale groups um so again  it's been a pleasure to host these this year and   um all the best to uh for a great summer in Spring  showing season enjoy your time and learn lots and   spend some good high quality time with family  and friends at the fair and those are always the   great memory times that we all kind of remember  when we're older so remember that I'm sure Todd   and Nate both have those experiences we both  were well all three of us grew up in this world   of animals and youth 4-H FFA and organizations  such as those so um continue the the good work   that these organizations provide you and have a  great year have a good night everyone thank you   all right thank you good night everybody  yep thanks Dr name thanks Todd thanks guys

2023-04-11

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