SUCCESSFUL LONG-DISTANCE AERIAL TRANSPORT OF FERTILIZED SHEEP OVA

Two experiments were carried out involving the exporta¬ tion by air from Great Britain of a total of three rabbit does carrying in their oviducts fertilized sheep ova for transfer to recipient ewes in South Africa. In October, 1960, ova were recovered in Cambridge from Border Leicester ewes which had been mated to a ram of the same breed. The ova were transported in two does to Pietermaritzburg, where they were transferred to Dorper ewes. In the second experiment early in December, 1960, fertilized ova were recovered from Welsh Mountain ewes (after they had been mated to Welsh Mountain rams) and finally transferred to German Merino ewes in South Africa. Following storage periods in the rabbits ranging (in the two experiments) from 101 to 128 hr, seventeen sheep blastocysts or late morulae were recovered in Pietermaritzburg and sixteen were transferred to a total of ten recipient ewes. Six pregnancies resulted and four live lambs were born to foster mothers in South Africa. The techniques are described in detail.