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In a 1000 words or less, how does AI'ing work?

Big Muddy rancher said:
Collect semen from a bull.
Put in a little tube and freeze it.
Find a cow in heat.
Thaw semen and insert into cow.
Wait 9 months.
Calf appears. :wink:
Click to expand...

One full tube per cow?
 
Whitewing said:
Big Muddy rancher said:
Collect semen from a bull.
Put in a little tube and freeze it.
Find a cow in heat.
Thaw semen and insert into cow.
Wait 9 months.
Calf appears. :wink:
Click to expand...

One full tube per cow?
Click to expand...

Oh you wanted the technical version. :roll:

Since I have never done it except back in my college days and i think we were using penicillin. I would say YES. :D

It's not a very big tube. :wink:
 
First spend 6 to 8 months going over catalogs and propaganda picking out bigger better faster etcetera.
 
Contact Northern Rancher via PM. He can answer all your questions with a bunch of experience as an AI tech.

What Big Muddy said is pretty right on.......
You collect a bull and store the semen in straws in liq. nitrogen.
When a cow comes into heat either naturally or by using drugs to bring her in, you breed her following a set protocal.
Each straw holds like a 1/2 a cc of semen.
Since you are placing the semen downstream of the cervix it doesnt take as much as a natural breeding.
 
Not sure exactly how many viable sperm there are but ample-alot of semen stored in 1/4 cc straws now even. If you are successful breeding cattle with bulls you are usually able to have a successful A'I program. It's one of those deals where nutrition, health,handling, cattle knowledge etc all have to be adequate or there can be problems. Per your a sharp enough cowboys to find the good ones in the book-sometimes the bulls with the 1/4 page picture work the best. Our website is FINALLY getting ready-I'll post the link for everyone's appraisal.
 
Northern Rancher said:
Not sure exactly how many viable sperm there are but ample-alot of semen stored in 1/4 cc straws now even. If you are successful breeding cattle with bulls you are usually able to have a successful A'I program. It's one of those deals where nutrition, health,handling, cattle knowledge etc all have to be adequate or there can be problems.
Click to expand...

I think we've been very successful so far breeding our cattle with bulls. We don't run the breeder bulls with the cows since we decide on a cow-by-cow basis which bull we wish to use to service a given cow. We do run some very young bulls (too young to breed) with the cows and they alert us when a cow is in heat. Once we've determined that a cow is ready, we move her to a corral with the selected bull and let nature take its course.

Also, unlike most cattle in my area, mine have a lot of daily human contact and so they're quite tame.
 
Northern Rancher said:
Well all you have to change is you A'I the cow instead of turning the bull in. You've got all the steps covered except the easiest lol.
Click to expand...

Is there a shelf-life for the semen storage?
 
Whitewing said:
Northern Rancher said:
Well all you have to change is you A'I the cow instead of turning the bull in. You've got all the steps covered except the easiest lol.
Click to expand...

Is there a shelf-life for the semen storage?
Click to expand...
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No ,as long as it is stored properly in a liquid nitrogen semen tank. Most semen we use is 1/4 cc's not 1/2 .

AI'ing gives you the advantage of using multiple genetics in a herd at a single time .. :wink:
 
Depending on the bull and the standard the AI company has selected, semen straws can contain 6,000 to 20,000 sperm cells. No shelf life known - but then AI with frozen semen has only been around since the 1930s or 1940s. Not long enough to tell if it really can be stored "forever."

Semen extenders are added by the AI company to keep it from damage during freezing and thawing... glycerol, milk and/or egg yolk, antibiotics, etc.

For curiousity's sake, there's plenty of interesting information about frozen semen from bull to AI tank, but unless you're planning on working for an AI company, all you really need to know is how to handle the straws between pulling them out of the tank and placing them in the cow. If you have an AI tech come and breed your cows, all you really need to know is cost and how to select the right bull for a particular cow.
 
Plus for a small producer you do not have to feed a bull all yr.

Lately I have been getting a lot of calls from people with a few head about AIing for them, shipping is more expensive than the cost of semen so i am attempting to get more people usuing the same bull so i can order semen from one supplier
Designed my own faciltiy with auto head gate and sorting pens, went thru 20 head by my self starting a 10 day protocol in about 30 minutes 2nd stage by myself 15 minutes
3rd stage had too much help lost of folks wanting to watch, never again!!

YOu want me to AI your stock ok go over there and watch, do not get up, do not offer advice. do not get up out of that chair do not offer to give shots, set down shut up and watch!
 
Fella that services my tank told me a guy called up and ordered some semen. When he delivered it he asked the guy where to put it. Guy said to go and lay it on a work bench in the barn :shock: The guy got real mad when he was told it had to be put in a tank.
 

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