An instrument for transcervical recovery of embryos from heifers

A non-surgical system of embryo recovery is described. It consists of a rigid probe of small diameter (4 mm) for recovering the embryos from young heifers (10 to 12 days after estrus). An average of 6.35 eggs were recovered per donor from 64 heifers 15 to 22 month-old having more than two palpable corpora lutea after superovulation. Forty donors were slaughtered after recovery to determine the number of ovulations, the state of the uterus and to do a post-mortem perfusion. The average recovery rate of embryos was 56.4 % ; an additional 9 % were recovered after slaughter. We compared two recovery methods differing in mode of liquid return ; no significant differences were found. Twenty-four animals not slaughtered after recovery returned to heat a mean 23.8 days after induced estrus (control cycle).