Mid-South Reproductive Services in Overton County will build a new breeding facility thanks for funds from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture.
Mid-South Partner Caroline Holt said the business helps local cattle owners with reproduction. Holt said cattle reproduction services are in high demand.
“This facility will have like an indoor facility to be able to better temperature control embryos so we can add IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) to what we offer to people,” Holt said. “And hopefully be able to import and export cattle genetics out of that facility.”
Holt said the facility will also create much-needed space to house more cattle. Holt said the facility will help meet the demand as Mid-South is one of the only businesses in the Upper Cumberland that offer those services.
“Definitely the Upper Cumberland for sure,” Holt said. “Then even beyond that, it will help bring people to this area. You know it’s kind of a unique thing. You know, there’s different groups that are interested in coming to see things like that or different people that are from around and so we kind of see it as a good way to support farmers in this area.”
Holt said Mid-South offers cattle flushing where a female cow is superovulated then is bred and a week later a doctor will use a solution to flush the embryos out of the uterus. Then they will be filtered and either freeze the embryos or transfer them to another female cow that has been set up to be on the same estrous cycle. Holt said they also offer cattle aspiration.
“Aspirating is when you go in a cow that is not bred and you take an ultrasound with a little needle on the end of it basically that is hooked to a pump,” Holt said. “And then you can go into the ovary and all of the follicles on the ovary you can pull the oocytes out of those follicles and then send them to a lab and that’s where they will fertilize those oocytes and then they ship them back to you as embryos within a week.”
Holt said it is the same process that they do for humans who are struggling to get pregnant. Holt said many people who get into assisting with human reproduction start with cattle reproduction to practice before moving into the human reproduction industry.
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