Pre-conference Workshops

This year's Preconference will allow delegates an opportunity to see pasture based, pedigree Holstein dairy farming in Ireland and the use of commercial Embryo transfer as part of their breeding strategy.

In the morning, we will visit the renowned 300 cow Lisduff herd adjacent to Cork city, farmed by the O Sullivan family. Here a panel of speakers including John O Sullivan, President Irish Holstein Friesian Association, Dr. Martin Kavanagh, Munster Bovine and Dr. Pablo Ross, ST genetics, will discuss the structure of the cattle breeding industry in Ireland and the use of ART in genetic improvement.

The afternoon session will take place on the well known 150 cow pedigree Holstein farm of the Bawnmore/Cedarmore Herds outside Kanturk. This fully robotic farm is run by the O Connor brothers, John and Bryan. Here we will have a multistation discussion of donor and recipient management, covering nutrition, synchronisation, disease control and immunisation, automation and data capture. There will also be demonstrations of colour doppler scanning for CL evaluation and recipient selection, as well as the use of the EmGenisys embryo evaluation system.

Our Preconference on the use of ART in the mare, will be held in the Clayton Hotel conference centre, Lapps Quay, Cork. We have assembled a panel of global expert speakers to cover all aspects of equine Embryo recovery and transfer, including both in vivo and in vitro production methods, IVF and ICSI.

The morning session will cover Embryo production by conventional flushing and IVP. Drs. Ed Squires and Cesare Galli, Giovanna Lazzari and Katrin Smits will give an overview of Embryo production from donor mares by the different methodologies. Dr. Niamh Lewis will cover welfare aspects of OPU donor management. Dr. Michaela Kölling will address recipient mare management and Dr. Johnathan Crabtree will discuss regulatory aspects of Equine ART.

The afternoon session will take place also in the Clayton and consists of a series of 3 parallel wetlabs, coordinated by Dr. Thomas Züchner. These will cover oocyte retrieval, embryo handling and cryopreservation. Semen assessment and preparation for IVF/ICSI. Each station will have an expert in that technical area to assist delegates and answer any queries.