Arubial Wagyu’s Challenge: Seeking to overcome the stress, labour intensity, and inefficient semen utilisation of conventional MOET protocols, Arubial Wagyu required more streamlined reproductive technologies to maintain competitiveness in the genetics-driven market.
How Vytelle Helped: Arubial Wagyu has achieved remarkable genetic advancement by adopting Vytelle’s hormone-free IVF technology, which accelerates generational turnover, maximises semen efficiency, reduces animal stress, and facilitates embryo stockpiling from elite females.
The Story of Arubial: A Journey to Fullblood Wagyu Excellence
For fourth generation grazier Laird Morgan and his wife, Sonia, a trip to the Annual Wagyu Conference at Yepoon ten years ago kick-started a new trajectory in their century-long cattle enterprise: to breed genetically elite fullblood wagyu. Today, family-run premium stud Arubial Wagyu boasts a 3500 strong herd, with an approach built upon meticulous data collection and objective measurement to breed the best in maternal traits, fertility, and marbling. As their focus honed in upon genetic improvement and achieving superior quality over quantity of production, in vitro fertilisation (IVF) has become a key part of Laird and Sonia’s operation.
The Problem
Conventional embryo harvesting techniques, which rely on hormone stimulation and collecting procedures, often burden cattle with stress while demanding significant time and labour from breeders. To maintain competitiveness in an increasingly genetics-driven market, producers require more rapid, efficient, and animal-friendly reproductive technologies. Having previously utilised Multiple Ovulation Embryo Transfer (MOET), Laird and Sonia had encountered frustration with the requirement to subject donor cows to numerous injections, the time required to achieve generational turnover, and the limited return on investment when utilising premium semen.
The Solution
Making the shift to Vytelle’s ADVANCE™ technology across the past eighteen months, Laird and Sonia have noticed significant improvements in their results.
“It’s allowed us to shorten our generational turnover, stockpile embryos from our elite females, and the results on our frozen embryos are now very similar to what we previously had on fresh,” Laird says.
Since transitioning to Ovum Pick-Up (OPU) technology, Arubial Wagyu has maintained impressive conception rates of 50-55%. This IVF approach harvests oocytes directly from donor ovaries for laboratory fertilisation and embryo cultivation. Previously, the operation employed MOET techniques that use hormonal stimulation to produce multiple ovulations in donor females before collecting and transferring the resulting embryos.
Vytelle’s Regional Director for Australia and New Zealand, Andrew Donoghue, explains that hormone free IVF is the easiest embryo production method available.
“The ability to make embryos on a donor every two weeks allows producers to keep up with the competitive genetic pace, while ensuring cattle welfare…one straw of semen can be used across multiple donors, and the reduced donor preparation means less handling and stress for the animals.”
Laird concurs that Arubial’s experience has become significantly less time consuming and invasive for donor cows since making the switch.
“Now it’s just run your cow up the crush, take the oocytes and we’re off and away.”
In addition, Arubial has been able to utilise premium semen more efficiently with Vytelle ADVANCE.
“A $60 000 straw of semen achieved 43 calves out of that one straw. Per calf, it’s not that expensive.”
With data collection and efficiency at the core of Laird and Sonia’s mindset, utilising hormone free IVF to maximise top-quality semen and stockpile elite embryos aligns with Arubial Wagyu’s pursuit of genetic excellence.
The Future
Laird and Sonia are committed to data-driven performance.
“We use numbers to stay at the pointy end of elite wagyu genetics.”
Their innovative breeding program, centered on Vytelle’s hormone-free IVF technology, positions them for continued success in an ever-changing marketplace.
“The windscreen is bigger than the rear vision mirror… The view through our windscreen holds a very promising future for Arubial Wagyu.”
