late embryos

[neocattleman]

i used embryos for the first time this past year and the 2 that stuck are both late on calving. the first one was 10 days late and the second one is 5 days late now and isn't showing any signs. i was wondering if this is a common occurrence, do embryos go late on a regular basis? 

 

[ploughshare]

My ET calves are routinely late, especially the bull calves.  Gestation lengths have been from 4 days early to 10 days late based in a 283 day gestation length, but mostly late.  What breed is the recipient and what breed is the embryo?

 

[neocattleman]

the recips were both angus and one embryo came from a maine angus cow and the other was from a charlais

 

[ploughshare]

From the Champion Genetics web site

Breed      Average Gestation         
                Length in Days

Holstein                      280
Ayrshire                    282                   
Brown Swiss              288                   
Guernsey                  286                   
Jersey                        279                   
Milking Shorthorn      283                   
Angus                        283                   
Hereford                    288                   
Limousin                    289                   
Brangus                    290                   
Gelbvieh                    287                   
Simmental                  287                   
Charalais                  286                   
Continental Breeds  290


Please remember that all due dates are based on breed averages.
Each animal's gestation length and heat cycle varies slightly.
Always watch for signs of heat a few days before and after the next expected heat date.

 

[obie105]

Mine were Hereford embryos in Hereford cows and one came 2 weeks early and the other 2 right on their due dates. The one that came 2 weeks early the cow has a negative bw number and I really think that played a role plus the embryos were meant to be fairly easy calving with low bw so I think it all plays a role.

 

[neocattleman]

thank you for the answers. i based everything off of a 283 day gestation when i was figuring the due dates out. my second embryo calf went yesterday, so  6 days late based off of 283 days. i got bull calves out of both embryos..

 

[firesweepranch]

We have had numerous embryo calves, and up until this spring we had only had one heifer! This spring we had a second heifer, and another bull. Seems for us, we get mostly bulls. That is kind of a bummer when we want heifers!

 

[Hilltop]

We don't have a lot a experience with ET calves but did have a BWF go overdue 3 yeras in a row as a recip, and up to 10 days over and only 1 was over 100lbs. This year we had 5 flushmates 17 days apart from 9 days early to 8 days over on a 283day chart. All recips were simmi or simmi cross and the BIGGEST recip had the BIGGEST calf. Im sure momma was prob pushing a ton this winter. We also had a friend tell us this winter about 2 calves 20 days apart a few years ago, 10 days early and 10 days over so definately not uncommon.

 

[justintime]

On two different occasions I have had 18 days between the first ET calf and the last one from embryos implanted on the same day and from the same flush. The first time this happened I had 6 heifer calves and they were all parentage tested by DNA. The second time it happened the first calf and the last calf were both heifers. That year, I had 3 heifers and 2 bulls. I have one black recip that has had several ET calves and she is always the last one to calve . I have 6 recips due on April 2nd that all have embryos from the same flush. So far 2 have calved- one bull and one heifer. Another is going to calve tonight and the others look a ways off yet. I can almost guarantee that the black recip will be the last one.

 

[BTDT]

Please remember to figure due date from embryo age, and not implant day. The embryo is 7 days old when you implant it.
Did you pregnancy check them early enough to be able to accurately determine if they did indeed stick to the embryo or if they were bred on the next heat cycle?

I have seen embryos go 18 days late and it was bloodtyped to the embryo, and I have seen them 4 days early. 

Some blame the multiple AI'ing to the large number of bull calves in ET calves.  I am not so sure that it just isn't a numbers game, meaning if you do enough, the odds are 50-50.

 

[neocattleman]

i did remember to figure out based on the embryo age and we know they were from the embryos because we do not have a bull and only AI and the embryos were our only attempts on the 2 cows that stuck. thanks. im going to use them again for next year and hopefully i can get a heifer or 2 out of them

 

[Peter Elsden]

i used embryos for the first time this past year and the 2 that stuck are both late on calving. the first one was 10 days late and the second one is 5 days late now and isn't showing any signs. i was wondering if this is a common occurrence, do embryos go late on a regular basis? 

  Calving times are similar for regular breeding or embryo transfer,that is calving can be 15 days before or 15 days after the predicted date.

 

[BroncoFan]

We're sitting around waiting for our recip to calve. She's due March 2nd based off 285 days and including the 7 days in the donor cow. We flushed the purebred maine intense Plus cow to sexed Whizard semen. The problem is the recip just isn't showing that she should calve in 3 or 4 days. The embryo was put in on May 29th. The bull wasn't put in with the recip until the first part of July. The vet called her bred with the embryo back in August. It's our first embryo.

 

[shortybreeder]

I'm waiting on my 2 embryos that were due on the 17th... both were sexed as bull calves though.

 

[BroncoFan]

I'm waiting on my 2 embryos that were due on the 17th... both were sexed as bull calves though.

Looking up these responses, it seems to me that embryos are more unpredictable than live cover or AI

 

[Charo]

We have 9 calves from embryos this year, gestation 277-284 days. The 277 days was an embryo that slit into 2 identical male. I use 283 days as gestation, charolais is suppose to be 286 but my average of the last 5 years is 283. When we use full french charolais bulls it's 286 and more.