Can anyone give me some information on surrogacy - I am interested in getting a foal from an older mare who may not be able to physically carry another foal.
I am interested in the entire process - risks, liklihood of success, cost etc
Any advice or references will be greatly appreciated
You should contact Dr. Elaine Carnivale from CSU, as this is an area of expertise for her! She’s also great about answering any and all questions related to the subject. 
http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/bms/ERL/erl_carnevale.htm
Ditto for Dr. Dirk Vanderwall @ New Bolton.
Thank you!
Any others you have used this procedure or surrogacy?
If your mare is still producing good quality oocytes, then Embryo Transfer may be an option for you. Your mare would be inseminated normally, and then at around 7 days, her uterus would be flushed with saline, and the recovered saline is examined to find (hopefully) an embryo. That embryo is then put into a surrogate mare, who’s cycle is in synch with your mare’s, and that embryo is (hopefully) carried to term.
If you Google “equine embryo transfer”, you’ll find a plethora of info.
Any idea of the cost ? (not including the stallion’s breeding fee)
Bump - any ballpark info on cost would be greatly appreciated
Costs vary, per the vet, the mares involved, what drugs are needed, and how many attempts are required to be successful.
Success also varies per the vet’s experience and skill. Timing is everything.
Every facility has their own policies, but here’s an example of a price list from one facility:
http://www.equinereproduction.com/fees/index.php
It seems, for the most part, that most facilities have a program “entry fee” of between 1000-2000 dollars. This usually covers three flushing/transfer attempts. Some vets do the whole thing on an “a la carte” basis, though. As the above list shows, there’s several different “scenarios” as to how, exactly, one may go about the ET process. You can lease or buy the recipient, board the recipient, ship the donor in for flushing, ship the embryo, provide your own recipient, etc., etc… If you end up leasing or buying a recipient, it will likely cost between $4,000 - $5,000. That does not include the stud fee, however.
Try “Googling” around…
Embryo transfer will be much simpler and less expensive than egg retrieval. Embryos can be frozen for future use. I have done many ETs. Use a vet that is experienced in the transfer and can show you a good success record. Use a facility that offers decent ET mares - adequate size without using drafts, decently handled with basic manners.
Leaning toward embryo transfer - thanks for all the assistance - still have a lot to learn -
have googled and read and still feel pretty uneducated - is that normal
thanks again
I just did at ET this year
Hey there. I just did an ET this year from an 18 yr old dutch mare that I tried 3xs last year on. She was deemed a problem mare, unlikely to maintain pregnancy. This time I went to a vet repro specialty facility (Equigen) in Archer, FLA. The vet there also practices TCVM (traditional chinese vet medicine). They combine both western and eastern vet methods. She was on chinese herbs for 4 months before we started in May.
After 3 attempts last year I was over $7,000 in the hole.
WELL worth it to go to a specialist. On avg, I think if everything goes well, mare takes first time, flushes an embryo, transfers successfully into recipient, you could expect about $3-$4K in costs, including recipient mare lease.
Just my 2 cents… Hope it goes well for you.
WELL worth it to go to a specialist. On avg, I think if everything goes well, mare takes first time, flushes an embryo, transfers successfully into recipient, you could expect about $3-$4K in costs, including recipient mare lease.
Shop around… My vet said et ADDED about 5k to the cost. (won’t be doing it with him if I do ET at some point)
There’s someone in the NE who does it very cheap. I was told under 2k. Almost worth shipping a mare there.
Shop around and make sure you go with a facility that has a good reputation. Prices will vary considerably and while you may think that using the vet around the corner is cheaper - it may prove to be a false economy. Hauling your mare 500 miles could be the cheapest time and money you ever spent. There are quite a few good, competent ET facilities throughout the country. Some will have their own recip herd, others will allow you the option of using one of your own mares (make sure she is comparable in size to the donor mare, between the ages of 4 and 10 and preferably has had at least one foal). For example, we charge $500.00 to do a flush and $250.00 to do a transfer. That’s if you show up at our door on day 7 to 9 post ovulation/breeding with both mares and they are ready to flush and transfer. If we do all of the management of both mares, costs go up. And of course, consider the possibility that your donor mare could double ovulate and twins may be flushed. What to do then if you don’t have a backup recip mare available :D. We dealt with that one last year, as well!
Generally speaking, if you are going to a recip facility that is providing the mare, you are looking at spending between $4,000 and $6,000 including the recip mare.
If you are looking at oocyte harvesting, it is a surgical procedure. Additionally, in order to inseminate the equine oocyte, it must be done using intracytoplasmic injection - in other words, they must directly inject the sperm cell into the egg. You can’t just dump them together in a petri dish and hope that they make beautiful music together…they won’t. They just sit there looking at each other ;). So, more money there. And ultimately, you will still be doing an embryo transfer!
Good luck!
If you are located in E. Pa. - talk with Dr. Neeley at
http://www.midatlanticequine.com/ . He has been doing this for many years.
My sucess
Tried to get my mare in foal at 14 and 16 normal AI but no sucess. Then I used an excellent ET centre and they retrived an embryo when my mare was 19 and again when she was 20. Use chilled or frsh semen and a very fertile stallion plus an excellent embryo transfer centre/vet
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