I have a remaining half dose of a deceased jumper stallion that to my knowledge there is no more commercial frozen available. His progeny on the ground now are fantastic in performance and breeding.
Now that ICSI seems to becoming a bit more known, and affordable, does anyone have good/bad experience in procedures and costs in splitting these to ICSI?
I hate to use my only remaining semen and end up with nothing.
We also have frozen semen from three deceased stallions, and like you, basically have the only remaining doses left. We looked into splitting our doses into ICSI doses.
The costs to split a dose of frozen semen is actually really cheap. If I remember correctly, I was quoted $400-600. That being said, in order to use an ICSI does, your mare needs to be transported to a facility like Texas A&M or CSU for the procedure. From my understanding, it can be in upwards of $10,000 for the procedure and only a 20% success rate at the high end and 5-10% at the low end.
Hagyard’s website reports a 20%-40% pregnancy rate, depending on clinician. I have heard approx. $16,000 start to finish with recip mare.
If you only have half a dose of very rare semen I would probably split it into ICSI doses. Otherwise you’ll end up trying once with half a dose and still have nothing. You can always sell a couple ICSI doses and try yourself later if you are feeling brave or the prices come down eventually. Your estimated costs are about right. Some spend more some less. So many factors affect your success rate. I have done it but it’s not for the faint of heart or pocketbook!
[QUOTE=buschkn;8529520]
If you only have half a dose of very rare semen I would probably split it into ICSI doses. Otherwise you’ll end up trying once with half a dose and still have nothing. You can always sell a couple ICSI doses and try yourself later if you are feeling brave or the prices come down eventually. Your estimated costs are about right. Some spend more some less. So many factors affect your success rate. I have done it but it’s not for the faint of heart or pocketbook![/QUOTE]
Thanks for the advice and I will probably split to ICSI doses. I did a little more homework, there are a dozen or so clinics doing this. (CA,AZ,TX,FL,KY,CO)
I am in the middle of my first ICSI as we speak. The two vets who seem to have the highest success rates to my knowledge are Dr. Beck in Ca and Dr. Foss in Missouri. The In Foal contract is 10k due at 45 day pregnancy and board/shavings/extra feed/turnout in addition. That includes the recip mare lease, but if you want to use your own mare to carry that is a bit more expensive as they have to freeze the embryo and implant back in donor mare. I dropped mine off last week, so pm me if you would like any updates. It is also about 2200 to insure the pregnancy at 45 day (mortality only).
I used Dr Foss in MO and have nothing but good things to say. But financially it is certainly not for the faint of heart!
I tried it last year at CSU. They aspirated two mature oocytes from a 7 yo mare. Both oocytes successfully made embryos, one much better quality than the other. Both were implanted into recips but neither made it to 14 days.
what is ICSI?
[QUOTE=Cartier;8568093]
what is ICSI?[/QUOTE]
Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection. http://vetmed.tamu.edu/equine-embryo-laboratory/clinical-services/icsi
This is a new procedure in horses, so the success rate is only 5-20% and can cost $10,000 and up from start to finish, so is not for the faint of heart or those with a light wallet. 
It also can’t be done by just anyone or anywhere. There are a few experts and facilities scattered around the U.S. that do the procedure now. As I understand it, Texas A&M and CSU are leading experts in this procedure and are doing quite a few of them, I’m guessing mostly for the Quarter Horse industry.
I know it is not an answer to the OP’s question, but unfortunately, I suffer from uncontrolable curiosity… Huntcup and Daventry, can we know who are those deceased stallions?
[QUOTE=Cumano;8568255]
I know it is not an answer to the OP’s question, but unfortunately, I suffer from uncontrolable curiosity… Huntcup and Daventry, can we know who are those deceased stallions?[/QUOTE]
We have frozen semen from the famous Oldenburg hunter stallion Jupiter that passed away a couple of years ago. I have the semen for sale, but someone suggested I look into splitting the breeding dose into ICSI doses. I contacted both Texas A&M and CSU and they could likely split it into 10 doses. It’s very inexpensive to split the doses into ICSI doses…but then becomes expensive to breed the mares, as they need to be shipped to a facility that performs ICSI breedings…and then you have to add in the high cost of the procedure and the low success rate.
Both of our foundation pony hunter stallions, Penrhyn Sporting Chance and Alvesta Picasso, passed away a couple of years ago as well. We store the only frozen semen available for both stallions. One of them has a very limited supply left…so were considering ICSI as an option. Unfortunately, my pocketbook just isn’t big enough to try and breed mares via ICSI. It also doesn’t help that we are all the way up in Canada and would have to spend a lot of money to ship them somewhere for the procedure, as no one is doing it locally.
[QUOTE=Cumano;8568255]
I know it is not an answer to the OP’s question, but unfortunately, I suffer from uncontrolable curiosity… Huntcup and Daventry, can we know who are those deceased stallions?[/QUOTE]
Chacco Blue
ICSI straws were made at Texas A&M yesterday.
I am pretty sure there is still Jupiter frozen semen available in Virginia. If so, that is a less expensive and a more sure way to go since his frozen semen is very good. As for Chacco Blue, there is very limited frozen semen left and so ICSI would be the way to go.
Dr. Beck in CA has had considerable success with Darco semen via ICSI. Another one to consider ICSI for here in USA is Nabab de Reve. His frozen semen has notoriously poor pregnancy results but ICSI might prove useful.
[QUOTE=knowthatifly;8572740]
I am pretty sure there is still Jupiter frozen semen available in Virginia. If so, that is a less expensive and a more sure way to go since his frozen semen is very good. [/QUOTE]
There is a bit of Jupiter frozen semen still around. Though, from what I understand, the later collections that were frozen are not viable, or very poor quality, and hasn’t produced any pregnancies. His earlier freezes were very good quality and had high fertility. I have a breeding dose that was frozen in the year 2000 and is out of a collection batch of high post thaw motility and pregnancies. Most breeders won’t touch the later stuff.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
