The first foal produced with oocytes harvested from the ovaries of a mare and shipped across the country for transfer into a surrogate mare was born recently at Colorado State University (CSU).

�The ability to successfully obtain viable oocytes from transported ovaries means we can offer breeders a lot more options when dealing with the death of a valuable mare,� said Ed Squires, Director of the Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology Laboratory (ARBL) at CSU. �We�ve been able to make amazing strides in reproductive science over the past decade and this is just one of our successes.�

The process of obtaining and transferring oocytes, which consist of a single cell, from one mare�s ovaries to another is a delicate operation in and of itself, without even factoring in the hazards of shipping from Virginia to Colorado.

At the time the ovaries were harvested, the mare, Jaguars Bar Bee Doll, had been dead for several hours. However, the veterinarian, Dr. Vito Del Vento, a Colorado State graduate, recalled that the Animal Reproduction Laboratory at CSU has been doing extensive research into oocyte transfer and he made a call