Tips for Embryo Transfers in PULSE

Prior to entering your embryos to inventory, be sure to have all required details. Verify that the lab report or other listing that accompanied the delivery of your embryos is handy and available for reference. Note that the following details are required to add embryos to inventory:

• Sire NAAB National Association of Animal Breeders. www.naab-css.org code or ISO International Organization for Standardization, a global organization that promotes commercial and industrial standards. ID Identifier
• Donor ID, Name, or ISO ID
• Fertilization Date
• Frozen Date (for frozen embryos)

In addition to the required items, other information that is useful when preparing to add embryos includes: 

• Embryo breed
• Straw or Mating details
• Embryo counts

Use the Import Embryos in Batch option to add multiple embryos as once! Add embryo details using the template and then import your list to quickly add as many embryos as you'd like.

If you are adding embryo details after transfers are completed, include the recipient animal and transfer details in the template file while importing embryos using the Import Embryos in Batch process. After the import, the embryo is added directly to the Transferred Embryos tab. PULSE also automatically adds a TRANSFER event to the recipient's CowCard for the Transferred Date you specified. See Import Transferred Embryos to learn more!

PULSE limits the transfer of embryos to those with the highest potential for success. Embryos must meet the following requirements to qualify for transfer: 

• Embryo transfers are typically done with 4 to 8-day-old embryos. In PULSE, you can only enter data for embryos that are less than 12 days old (EAGE Embryo Age < 12). As noted in Enter Completed Transfers as Soon as Possible!, you must be prompt with your data entry to capture embryo transfers in PULSE.
• Must be Grade 1 - 3: 
  • 1 Good
  • 2 Fair
  • 3 Poor
• Must be Stage 4 -8: 
  • 4 Morula
  • 5 Early Blastocyst
  • 6 Blastocyst
  • 7 Expanded Blastocyst
  • 8 Hatched Blastocyst

Be sure to enter embryo transfers as soon as possible to avoid the 12-day embryo age restriction (EAGE < 12). See Embryo Requirements for Transfer for other embryo requirements.

PULSE completes a variety of checks to keep your embryo transfer data as accurate as possible. The following sanity checks are done throughout the process: 

• If an animal is pregnant, the TRANSFER event cannot be deleted. If you made an error, first delete the reproduction event (BRED, PREV, PREG Pregnant, OPEN, ABORT, FRESH, SOLD, or DIED), and then delete the TRANSFER event.
• PULSE warns you if you attempt to add a second TRANSFER event to the same animal within 7 days.
• Transferred embryos default to an unsuccessful status if results are not added within 280 days.

After the embryo transfer is completed and processed from either web or mobile, the embryo moves from Embryo Inventory to the Transferred Embryos tab. Then, when the recipient animal is checked and confirmed PREG, OPEN, ABORT, FRESH, SOLD, or DIED, the embryo moves to the Embryo Results tab.

When DC305 DairyComp 305 - VAS Dairy Management Software receives a completed TRANSFER event from PULSE, it processes the following changes:

• Records a BRED event and updates the RPRO Reproductive code status for all completed animals in the TRANSFER event.
  Click here to learn more about the BRED date and Embryo Age!

  • If the Embryo Age is defined in the TRANSFER event, then the BRED event is back-dated based on the Age entered. For example, if the embryo is 7 days old and today is 8/21/19, then PULSE TRANSFER event is recorded as 8/21/19, and DC305 will receive a BRED event dated 8/14/19.

    

  • If the Embryo Age is not defined in the TRANSFER event, then the date of the transfer is used for the BRED date.

    

• Assigns the embryo an ID, which is auto-created from the data entered in PULSE TRANSFER event. This ID stays with the embryo for the entire duration of the pregnancy.
• Records the embryo's sire ID as the SIRC Sire of conception.
• Clears the recipient's ETDAM Embryo transfer dam (donor female) value once the embryo is transferred to the recipient female.
• If DC305 receives an embryo transfer event for a pregnant animal, it updates the animal's record to show a status of Vet Code 6 = ABT? Vet Code 6 = ABT? Often if a dairy sees a pregnant animal showing signs of heat they may breed her. When this breeding is entered in DairyComp the animal remains pregnant, but this flag is set so that the veterinarian can determine if she is still pregnant to the original breeding or if she has aborted and is now just another "bred status" cow..
• When DC305 later receives a FRESH event for the recipient female, then the embryo transfer is marked as "successful."

Embryos retrieved from donors using an embryo flush Embryos are harvested by being flushed out of a superovulated cow that has already been bred. or those gathered in a vial from an IVF In-Vitro Fertilization. In relation to embryo transfers, IVF occurs when oocytes (eggs) are collected via OPU (ovum pick up), and then in a lab, semen is added to create embryos. procedure are considered to be "fresh", as they are transferred to a recipient animal shortly after retrieval and are not frozen or otherwise preserved.

Embryos retrieved from donors or an IVF procedure are analyzed for viability, and those rated as grade 1 or 2 are considered suitable for freezing. Embryos are handled carefully by certified technicians to ensure they are properly labeled and frozen to maintain viability and to correctly identify embryo parentage details. Once frozen, the embryos remain stored in a liquid nitrogen tank until ready to be thawed and transferred into a recipient animal.