Four embryos from Algarve cows were transferred last Friday, March 18th, to other females in the livestock farm of the creator José Geraldes Rosa, in Tavira, in line with what was defined in the Action Plan for the Recovery of the Algarvian Beef Breed, announced the Regional Directorate of Agriculture and Fisheries of the Algarve.
The Algarve Bovine Breed is at high risk of extinction, so measures were implemented, within the scope of that Action Plan, with the aim of increasing the small group of animals that still exist.
According to DRAP Algarve, these actions are based «mainly on reproductive technology (artificial insemination) using semen from Algarve bulls preserved in the Portuguese Bank of Animal Germplasm and Embryonic Transfer».
With the collaboration of the project partners and the adhesion of breeders from the region, «it was possible, in a first phase, to set up base nuclei of Algarve breeding stock for use in the program to increase the number, resulting in the cryopreservation of embryos». Four of them have now been implanted in the Tavira breeder's cows.
New actions are planned for the current year, with the use of this reproductive technology, in bovine farms in the Algarve that are adhering to this project.
DRAP explains that “embryo inovulation is the process in which the recipient receives the viable embryo collected from the donor”. As a non-surgical method, «embryo transfer is the safest way to exchange and improve genes».
Basically, "the technique consists of multiplying the genetic material of high-value females, faster than conventionally, using frozen embryos."
Thus, “after choosing a superior bovine female, called a donor, she is inseminated and, days after the process, the embryos are removed, selected and transferred to the recipient females”.
These recipient females “are also evaluated regarding their reproductive status and only those considered suitable receive the embryos”. These cows must have “a size compatible with the breed of the embryo to be transferred to ensure a normal pregnancy, without complications”.
These actions within the scope of the Action Plan for the Recovery of the Algarvian Beef Breed are financed by the PDR2020_Program for the Conservation and Improvement of Animal Genetic Resources, with the participation of several entities, such as DRAP Algarve, ASCAL (Association holding the Breed Bovina Algarvia), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Lisbon and DGAV.
Currently, according to DRAP Algarve, only 21 animals are identified as belonging to the Algarve breed, located in three farms (Lagos, Silves and Tavira).
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