Cattle breeding season is about to take off, and the Trans Ova Genetics facility in Sioux Center, Iowa, is preparing for a busy spring of collecting eggs from donor cattle and impregnating heifers and cows to create some of the countrys top-of-the-line cattle.

On a Tuesday afternoon in early March, a team of veterinary technicians collected eggs from a 14-month-old heifer in a squeeze chute. In a process called OPU for ovum pick up, a vet guided a long needle toward the ovary and collected about 15 unfertilized eggs, or oocytes. The process takes about 10 minutes per cow.

Afterward, the eggs and fluid collected from each animal is sent to the next-door lab where embryologists separate the eggs from the fluid and prepare them to be fertilized

During the busy season, the northwestern Iowa facility does as many as 400 OPUs a week.

The company does 30,000 invitro fertilization procedures a year at its facilities and satellite centers throughout the U.S. We run a lot of cattle through the chute, said Paul Loney, director of sales and marketing at Trans Ova Genetics.

Invitro fertilization work keeps vets busy. The number of embryo transfers has picked up dramatically in the past five years as well. In this process, a fertilized egg from one cow is removed and implanted in another who will serve as a surrogate mother. Using this method, an elite cow can produce several calves in a year instead of just one.

Producers are after whats best for their herd, and with all the tools that are out there, you can really make a difference herd-wide pretty quickly, said Ty Hendrix, manager at High Plains Genetics in western South Dakota.

Most customers at the Piedmont, S.D., facility using embryo transfer are aiming to improve their female genetics, Hendrix said. Backed with information from genomic tests and expected progeny differences (EPDs), they can improve their herds with more accuracy, he said.

It will continue to increase the quality of calves on the ground, he said. Better cows are going to continue to produce more efficiently and more highly sought-after offspring.

Embryo transfer and sexed semen are two forms of breeding technology that have become more common among seedstock producers and those who show their cattle. Markets play a role in the number of producers using the technology. Theyre more likely to invest when cattle prices are good.

Costs of the procedures have remained about the same, but veterinarians are able to produce more embryos with each invitro fertilization (IVF) operation.

Veterinarian Travis White, lower right, and other technicians at the Trans Ova Genetics facility in Sioux Center look at an ultrasound monitor as White guides an instrument to collect eggs from a heifers ovaries.

At Trans Ova Genetics, it costs between $160 and $200 to make an embryo through invitro fertilization. Seven years ago, that procedure would have produced three embryos, on average. Today, it can make twice as many, Loney said, and that lowers the overall cost.

He expects that as the technology improves, theyll be able to produce even more embryos with each procedure. Hes excited to see the technology take off.

Its been growing very fast, and its an area thats in its infancy right now, Loney said.

Some say its another part of precision agriculture. Crop farmers are used to keeping an eye on a computer monitor as they roll across their fields. Its all about fine-tuning seeds, nutrients and crop protection so the plant has the best chance at a highly productive life. Now, the same sort of technology is picking up in the cattle industry. Genetic information can help producers pair their best bulls and females and make top-performing calves.

Its all about optimizing inputs to get the desired outputs, said Michael Gonda, assistant professor in the animal science department at South Dakota State University.

Most cattle breed organizations gather genetic information that help producers predict how an animals offspring will perform. Thanks to advances in DNA testing, those EPDs, are becoming more accurate. The traits they can test for are more complex, going beyond birth weight and calving ease.

Gonda expects the technology will get better at revealing traits such as fertility and feed efficiency. He is working to develop new tools for novel traits, such as a DNA test for disease resistance.

It also could help in treating disease. If producers knew how an animal would respond to vaccines, treatments could be tailored to each animal, Gonda said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has created a genomic database of beef cattle. A team of scientists in Clay Center, Neb., recently completed a genetic profile of 96 bulls in a project that started in the 1990s. They found a gene associated with brisket disease, a respiratory issue that can kill feedyard cattle.

SDSU will be working to train the next set of experts who could further the field of precision livestock. The university recently received a USDA grant to offer precision livestock training, including genomics research.

Its a two-year summer program for undergraduates, and its goal is to attract minority and economically disadvantaged students to careers in livestock production.

We hope to bring those under-represented in agriculture into the industry and help them develop their career, said Gonda, who will be leading the research program.

During the first summers 10-week session students will explore career options and their research interests. There are programs in animal science, veterinary science and dairy science as well as swine nutrition, gut microbiology, food safety, animal physiology and genomics.

In the second year, theyll spend 10 weeks at an internship with South Dakota, Minnesota or Nebraska companies or government organizations. Pipestone Systems, Cargill and USDA Animal Research are options, Gonda said, adding that it will give them a chance to use what theyve learned in their field.

I think theres a lot of real opportunities to work in that area, he said.

Reach reporter Janelle Atyeo at 605-335-7300, email jatyeo@tristateneighbor.com, or follow on Twitter @JLNeighbor.

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Breeding technology allows quick boost to herd's genetics - Tri-State Neighbor