freezing a mares eggs? freezing embryos?

[rapazzini09]

Wanted to learn about the possibility of freezing a mares egg’s.

Anyone have any experience in doing so? Average cost? Success rate?

Does the mare have to be bred and then the embryo is collected and frozen or can the egg itself just be frozen?

Really locking into this and wanted to hear from anyone who has any experience with it. thanks

[Equine_Reproduction]

@rapazzini09;6129232

Wanted to learn about the possibility of freezing a mares egg’s.

Anyone have any experience in doing so? Average cost? Success rate?

Harvesting and freezing the equine egg is a surgical procedure. Additionally, in order to fertilize that egg, it requires using ICSI. Not something that your average equine reproduction practitioner is going to be proficient inj.

Does the mare have to be bred and then the embryo is collected and frozen or can the egg itself just be frozen?

See above. Much better to breed and flush an embryo for freezing than attempting to add additional steps. With each additional step, you lessen your chances for success.

Good luck!

[rodawn]

Everything Kathy said. Obtaining the eggs is a surgical procedure involving entry requiring a general anesthetic. When I spoke to my vet practitioner about surgery for my mare (for a different reason), anesthetic risks were the most major issue at hand. Anesthetic risks, depending on the procedure and length of time needing to be under anesthetic, can be as high as 20-50% mortality, which is way higher than risks even for people.

The risks of AI breeding and flushing the resulting embryo 6 days later causing life-threatening damage are, on the other hand, extremely low. There is still some risk, but it’s more on the order of 1-5%, depending on the practitioner.

[iconicbayequestrian]

We just talked to Dr. Ed Squires about the possibility of freezing eggs as apposed to embryos and he sd no one is collecting and freezing them as oocytes ( single cells eggs) commercially and they have not been very successful in any species w/ that procedure but that freezing embryos ( fertilized eggs) is becoming more popular option. These can be frozen indefinitely and used when a rectp mare is ready to recieve the embryo.
Food for thought!