Mystery Cane

[inyati13]

In the thread on Ronnie, Ken stated:

I find it is not the easiest thing to do at a different place to mine, just little things like the angle the crush is at, the preparation area and the feed they are on, it all throws me. Guess I am just getting old and too set in my ways.

I agree. I have a procedure for removing the straw from the cane. When I bred Hope at Fire Sweep, I dropped the Uno Mas cane into the bottom of the tank. We called it "The Mystery Cane". Here is the story.

In late spring, I bred Hope to Uno Mas while visiting Fire Sweep Ranch. After I pulled the straw, I dropped the cane of Uno Mas back into the canister. After I was finished, I looked in the canister from which I had removed the cane and did not see the Uno Mas cane. Kris checked and she could not find it. Her daughter who has young eyes checked all the canisters. No Uno Mas cane.

I have my own procedure for removing straws. I pull the canister up and clip it with a gator clamp. The canister never comes above the frost line. I have a piece of wire that I use to hook the label on the cane. I raise the cane, grab it with my left hand, drop the fish tool and pull the straw with my right thumb and forefinger. I drop the cane back in the canister, remove the gator clamp and lower the canister.

Here is a picture of my tank and how this procedure looks.

Not having those tools when I bred Hope, I used the standard method of pulling the canister up, garbing the straw with my right hand while holding both the canister and cane. Not being in the habit of doing that, I apparently missed the canister when I released the cane. The assumption was that it fell to the bottom of the tank. Now the mystery begins. Kris had the Select Sires Representative come out to retrieve the cane. He could not find a cane. He found other missing straws but no cane. He went so far as to empty the tank and turn it upside down. He declared, "There is no cane of Uno Mas in the tank." Well, that would mean the cat ate my homework!!! I told Kris I sure as HeII did not drop it on the ground. She agreed. I told her I would pay for the cane of Uno Mas. I had left a check and I told her to cash it. Regardless of what happened, I was responsible for her not having a cane of Uno Mas.

A few days after that conversation, I got a text from Kris that she could see a cane in the bottom of the tank. Mystery solved. The SS Representative missed it. However, he was concerned that the cane may have been thawed during his search. As a compromise, SS is paying for half the cost of the cane. I paid for the other half - My fish; I clean it.

BTW: I stuck Hope on that service.

So Ken, I feel your pain when you are performing at someone else's facility and cannot follow your personal protocols.

 

[regolith]

I use tweezers, no dipping around in nitrogen cooled air with bare fingers.

That really sucks, losing the cane like that - and them not finding it. Lost a whole insert one time, I think they'd packed thirteen straws into an insert designed for ten and when I tried to pull one loose, ended up dropping the whole thing into the bottom of the tank - they never got it back for me at the end of the breeding season, good thing it was cheap semen.

I'd struggle to work with someone else's system because I have to find a way to adjust for height - it's only the Jersey-sized cows I can easily AI standing on the ground.

 

[wbvs58]

Sorry about losing the cane Ron. I do something similar I use a plastic clothes peg to hold the bucket up and like Regolith I use a pair of small haemostats to grab the straw so no heat transfer from fingers to other straws.
I guess I am pretty superstitious I have a heavy rubber band I put over the glove around my upper arm to keep my fingers well down into the glove. If I happen to misplace that particular band and have to use another my confidence goes right down. I never record the insemination until it is successfully completed, I have to have my favourite old cap on and must have my glasses on during the whole process plus a few other little idiosyncrasies for a successful insemination.
I was brought down to earth the other day when I went down to my friends place with my tank as I had semen for him and he was getting a fellow to inseminate a couple of his cows. This fellow is very experienced and has good success but I was amazed at how basic he was. He just had an old rag to wipe the cow, pulled the semen straight out with his fingers, wiped the frost off with his fingers, no thawing straight into the gun and into the cow. It will be interesting to see the results, probably better than mine.

Ken

 

[inyati13]

Sorry about losing the cane Ron. I do something similar I use a plastic clothes peg to hold the bucket up and like Regolith I use a pair of small haemostats to grab the straw so no heat transfer from fingers to other straws.
I guess I am pretty superstitious I have a heavy rubber band I put over the glove around my upper arm to keep my fingers well down into the glove. If I happen to misplace that particular band and have to use another my confidence goes right down. I never record the insemination until it is successfully completed, I have to have my favourite old cap on and must have my glasses on during the whole process plus a few other little idiosyncrasies for a successful insemination.
I was brought down to earth the other day when I went down to my friends place with my tank as I had semen for him and he was getting a fellow to inseminate a couple of his cows. This fellow is very experienced and has good success but I was amazed at how basic he was. He just had an old rag to wipe the cow, pulled the semen straight out with his fingers, wiped the frost off with his fingers, no thawing straight into the gun and into the cow. It will be interesting to see the results, probably better than mine.

Ken

Dam, now you got me worried that using my fingers is a bad practice. There goes my conception rate. ;-)

Seriously, I never considered affecting other straws from the heat transfer from the fingers!

 

[wbvs58]

Ron it is whatever works for you. That fellow that I mentioned has a pretty good reputation with his breeding.

Ken

 

[regolith]

I don't use a rubber band on the glove at all - always figured with the rest of it inside the cow, the loose end isn't going anywhere of concern.
Apparently I'm the rough sort who will go in there without a glove if needs must though... like the old-timers did. When we went to draft my cows once on a remote block and saw some of them jumping (that had previously been pregged in-calf), no-one had thought to bring a glove.

They trained us to wipe the cow clean then stick the wipe on her rump, I have to consciously remember to drop that tissue on the ground and not put it on her rump, because 80% of the time if we have a high wind it blows off her rump past her face and startles her. (the other 20% it's my face it flies past). Training is hard to overcome.