Cost of embryo transfer

[Ionadiamond]

I'm a little confused by the websites I've looked at about embryo transfer! Does anybody know the rough price of the vet work WITHOUT stud fee or leasing a mare (already have both)?
Any idea about success rates?

 

[sallyf]

Usually the price of the AI package.
Then £100 to syncronise the recipient mare
Then approx £300 for the flush and transfer.
Obviously less if no embryo is flushed as no transfer will take place

 

[madmare22]

i have just had an embryo flushed from one of my mares. generally it is a good idea to sync two mares, i had one of my own but in the end i had to lease one as my mare just wouldn't play ball. i will pm prices etc to you, i haven't got them to hand at the moment. The other costs you need to consider are keep fees of the donor and recipient mare whilst they were at stud, assuming you were king to leave them at stud for the process to be carried out. It is relatively expensive and i was given a success chance of 70-80% from start to finish.

 

[Alec Swan]

.......

It is relatively expensive and i was given a success chance of 70-80% from start to finish.

Assuming that the valued donor mare plays ball, has no reproduction problems and produces viable embryos, I would say that the success rate could be substantially higher. There is however, a huge "however" (as always!!) and this is it; The ET Centre, or Repro Vets used really do need to have their eye on the ball, and keep it there. OK, "so they all do". Oh no they don't. We have had failures last year and this year. Initially the Repro Vet was a joke, and then despite the very best efforts of another relatively youthful, but passionate stud, and highly experienced vets, the mare proved to be a non breeder.

When considering ET costs, it makes little sense to consider 1 Donor and 1 Recipient. It makes for more sense to consider 1 Donor and 2 Recips, but the chances of success are increased if you plan for 1 Donor, 3 Recips and the chances of 2 transfers, because 1 may fail before the 42 day water shed, do you see my point?

The overwhelming burden can all so often be the keep costs of the Donor mare and the 3 Recipients. That's 4 horses at £10-12-15 per day, EACH!! At a stud farm, that's not too bad, because it will include all the handling for jabs, scanning and the eventual AI and transfer work, and believe me, however much the Stud owner wishes for your success, they work damned hard for it!!

The actual AI work isn't that expensive, it's the ancillary costs. If we are to source the right mares, then the transport costs, to the stud of your choice may well add up to £1000, then add to that the keep costs of the 3 or 4 mares, then work out the costs of the return journeys for the mares that you don't use, and eventually you will see that blowing £5k on a successful embryo transfer is easily done.

I've done it, and may well do it again, but it's been a quantum learning curve.

Alec.

 

[Tinks81]

I didnt think it was that bad - especially if the mare who is the donar is competing !!

also heard that though you pay to lease the mare from the stud they give you money back when the mare is returned after weaning?? x