Ovaries were collected from slaughtered calves (4 month old) and examined for number and quality of fully grown oocytes. Capacity of oocytes for maturation and further development was analyzed. Mean number of oocytes per ovary was 120.3. Only 39% of all oocytes were in intact stages. After maturation for 24 h 60.8% reached the M 2 stage of meiosis. Percentages of oocytes that fertilized and cleaved after IVF were about 60 and 42%. The output of intact embryos on day 7 was 14.3%.