Making BETTER Bovine Babies

In this episode, Rebecca Arnott catches up with Dr Shane Thomson of Holbrook Vet Centre to learn about the different forms of assisted breeding available, how these are continuing to evolve and how to decide which is best suited to your situation.

Some of the advantages and disadvantages of natural mating (NM), Artificial Insemination (AI and FTAI), Embryo Transfer (ET & MOET) and In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) are discussed as well as some key differences between breeds and geographic areas.

Shane also shares his thoughts on what the future looks like, particularly given the rapid advances with genomics and embryo transfer as well as some of the key challenges facing the industry.

Imagine using controlled mating through Fixed Time Artificial Insemination (FTAI) to improve your bottom line by $90/pregnancy. In this Podcast, one of Australia's most engaging repro veterinarians, Dr Enoch Bergman tells Vetoquinol's Rebecca Arnott how this result was achieved via a Meat & Livestock Australia funded Producer Demonstration Site (PDS) project run in conjunction with Swans Veterinary Services and the WA producer grower group ASHEEP. Run over three mating seasons, between 2017 and 2019, the testing of FTAI in the heifer joining programs of 10 local beef producers measured conception rates, dystocia rates, calf and heifer mortality rates, rebreeding weights, and the weaning weights of the calves from the heifers. Those enrolled in the FTAI integrated group were superior to those of their naturally mated siblings on average for each parameter and in most individual instances. Enoch highlights results from an economic analysis of the averages, which demonstrated a benefit of just under $90 per pregnancy without factoring in either genetic improvement or the ongoing benefits of the improved calving distribution observed within the heifers enrolled in the FTAI program. This Podcast was recorded at the end of Beef Australia; hence the croaky voices!