Oocyte Pickup & The Next Generation

“You’re only as strong as your next generation.”

There are some days in the cattle business that feel a little more ordinary than others. Then there are days that remind you just how incredible this industry is - and the technology behind it - really is.

This week our cow, Honey (AKA M121) had one of those days. Honey is a full-blood Akashi, sired by HEARTBRAND 518 X TWA KOTSUKARI X IWG MS JUDO 73Z, and exhibits many genetic factors we want to continue to establish in our herd.

Honey traveled to a Trans Ova satellite ranch here in LaSalle, CO for an OPU (Ovum Pick-Up) : a painless and minimally invasive reproductive procedure that allows us to collect oocytes - the immature eggs - from a donor cow’s ovaries. [It’s also wild that this procedure can still take place up to a certain time in pregnancy if the donor cow is also carrying a calf - which Honey is!]

Those oocytes can then be used to create embryos, giving us the opportunity to multiply genetics from females we believe are worth building a future around. It’s a process that sounds remarkably simple when you say it in a sentence: collect the eggs, fertilize them, grow the embryos, and transfer them. But there is an incredible amount of science, timing, logistics, and team work happening behind the scenes.

Tuesday Morning: The Collection

At 10:30 am Tuesday morning, Honey’s oocytes were collected during her OPU procedure. Once collected, the oocytes were immediately placed into a specialized liquid media designed to maintain them during transportation. From there, Honey’s eggs began a journey of their own.

Their destination was Trans Ova in Texas, and getting there meant moving them through a carefully coordinated series of couriers. The goal was to get the oocytes to the facility quickly and safely so they could be placed into the incubator and continue through the next stage of the process.

And they moved fast.

By 7:00 am Wednesday morning - less than 20 hours after they were collected - they were in Texas and placed in an incubator.

That part alone is pretty amazing to think about. Eggs collected from a cow in Colorado were carefully delivered across multiple states and ready for the next steps.

Choosing The Genetics

At the same time, we had semen from the bull we selected shipped to Trans Ova. One of the goals for this project was to produce female offspring, so the semen was reverse sorted for female sex before being used with Honey’s oocytes. This is one of the parts of the reproductive technology that makes these projects so interesting and exciting for us. We aren’t simply hoping that the genetics we want will come together - we can make very intentional decisions about the combination we’re trying to bring forth.

Honey brings the maternal side of the equation, while the sire we selected contributes the paternal genetics. The hope is that somewhere in that combination are embryos that will eventually become the next generation of cattle.

Seven Days in The Lab

Once the oocytes and semen were together, the real waiting began. The fertilized eggs will be cultured and monitored for approximately seven days as they develop into embryos. Next Wednesday, we’ll get the call we’ve been waiting for: How many viable embryos did Honey make? Not every oocyte collected will fertilize. Not every fertilized egg will continue developing. And not every embryo that develops will ultimately be viable for transfer. For now, we simply wait and pray that Honey has given us some good ones.

Where the Story Continues

If we have viable embryos, their journey won’t end in the incubator. Those embryos will be transferred into surrogate cows at Paragon Cattle Services in Cisco, Texas, where they will have the opportunity to continue developing and hopefully, eventually become calves. And that’s the part of this process that really puts it all into perspective. What began as a procedure on Honey’s ovaries could eventually result in calves being born months later - calves carrying a very intentional combination of genetics that began with prayers and decisions we made here at Circle RB. There is something pretty special about that.

Why We Do It

We don’t selectively pursue reproductive technology simply because we can. Every time we invest in an OPU, IVF, or embryo transfer project, there is a reason behind the genetic decisions we are making. We’re thinking about the the kind of cattle we want to build a herd with, the traits we want to preserve, and the genetics we believe are worth carrying forward. Honey is one of those cows, so is Mellow (for future oocyte collection). OPU gives us an opportunity to capture more of what a valuable donor female has to offer in a single breeding season. Instead of waiting for one calf at a time, we have the possibility of creating multiple embryos from her genetics and placing those embryos into recipient cows. It’s a fascinating blend of cattle husbandry, genetics, reproductive sciences, and a whole lot of prayers and patience. And while the science is impressive, there’s still something wonderfully simple about the reason we’re doing it: we want to build good cattle.

So now, Honey’s part of the job is done and we wait.

Come on, Honey. We’re praying for some good ones!