Semen Collection?

[birdog]

I have a beefmaster bull I cross on brangus cows and I really like his heifers and have retained several. I am wanting to change bulls and go with a charolais to cover the beefmaster x brangus heifers. My question is should I try to collect semen from my beefmaster bull to AI back on my brangus cows for future replacements since I know the genetic mix works on the cows I currently have or should I just sell him and AI to another beefmaster later when I need replacements? Any comments or suggestions will be considered. Thank you in advance.

 

[preston39]

When you find a combination that truely works...keep it as long as you can. Replication is always a challenge.

Have him collected and stowed for future use. Good semen is getting more costly.

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

Collecting & storing semen is the best insurance against a death of a quality bull. All of our service bulls have been collected.

Don't know where you are in West Texas; however, we use Great Plains Breeder's Services in Shamrock for all of our collections.

 

[Alan]

What's the ball park price on collecting and packaging semen on your own bull? Semen ready for your tank.

Thanks,
Alan

 

[Frankie]

I have a beefmaster bull I cross on brangus cows and I really like his heifers and have retained several. I am wanting to change bulls and go with a charolais to cover the beefmaster x brangus heifers. My question is should I try to collect semen from my beefmaster bull to AI back on my brangus cows for future replacements since I know the genetic mix works on the cows I currently have or should I just sell him and AI to another beefmaster later when I need replacements? Any comments or suggestions will be considered. Thank you in advance.

What will it cost you to collect and store the semen?

Are you doing any AI work now? It's more management intensive than natural breeding. There's a ton of semen that people have stored and are paying storage fees for that will never be used.

Surely there are good Beefmaster bulls available for AI, if you decide to go that way.

 

[Aero]

What's the ball park price on collecting and packaging semen on your own bull? Semen ready for your tank.

Thanks,
Alan

$1.5-2/frozen straw.

 

[Alan]

What's the ball park price on collecting and packaging semen on your own bull? Semen ready for your tank.

Thanks,
Alan

$1.5-2/frozen straw.

Just to finish the math, again about on average, how many 1/2 cc straws do you get when you collect a bull. Again I realize they are all different just a ball park.

$2 per straw x Y amount of straws = X$

Thanks again,
Alan

 

[Aero]

What's the ball park price on collecting and packaging semen on your own bull? Semen ready for your tank.

Thanks,
Alan

$1.5-2/frozen straw.

Just to finish the math, again about on average, how many 1/2 cc straws do you get when you collect a bull. Again I realize they are all different just a ball park.

$2 per straw x Y amount of straws = X$

Thanks again,
Alan

i think that price was accurate for 800-1200 straws

 

[Alan]

What's the ball park price on collecting and packaging semen on your own bull? Semen ready for your tank.

Thanks,
Alan

$1.5-2/frozen straw.

Just to finish the math, again about on average, how many 1/2 cc straws do you get when you collect a bull. Again I realize they are all different just a ball park.

$2 per straw x Y amount of straws = X$

Thanks again,
Alan

i think that price was accurate for 800-1200 straws

Thanks!
Alan

 

[birdog]

Thanks Alan for asking about the cost, that was one of the questions I had. Thanks Aero for the input to Alan's questions.

Frankie, Currently I'm not using AI, natural service only but we have a service provider about 15 minutes down the road that does full service AI and I believe ET work also.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

How many staws & how much depends - lots of difference between studs. A mature bull may ejaculate from no viable sperm to maybe enough for 1000 units. And this also depends on how much live sperm the collection stud puts into each straw. If I was having mine collected, I would insist on a heavy "dose" of live sperm. My bull has 30 mil. guaranteed in each straw. If I'm going to take the time to AI - I want great results!

 

[birdog]

How many staws & how much depends - lots of difference between studs. A mature bull may ejaculate from no viable sperm to maybe enough for 1000 units. And this also depends on how much live sperm the collection stud puts into each straw. If I was having mine collected, I would insist on a heavy "dose" of live sperm. My bull has 30 mil. guaranteed in each straw. If I'm going to take the time to AI - I want great results!

Jeane-

That's a good point. Thanks for the input.

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

What's the ball park price on collecting and packaging semen on your own bull? Semen ready for your tank.

Thanks,
Alan

This is just rough price figures...don't hold me to it since I do not control the collection facilities prices...ok?

In the past several years, we have paid around:

$35. to collect the bull and test semen.
$8. a day board for bull if needed at collection facility.
$1.70 per processed straw up to 199 straws.
$0.05 cents a month storage per straw.

On a given bull our collection & processed straws have ranged from about 55 to 120 straws, depending on the bull.

Various collection facilities that also store semen obviously have different prices and those change as needed due to operating expenses, etc.

 

[C HOLLAND]

I called Genex in Alabama today about the cost involved in collecting a bull.

Fees include:

Testing of animal $110.00 required
Jump fee $25.00
Daily fee if left $8.00 per day
up to 500 straws $2.00 per straw $1.65 per straw over 500

3 collections per day is normal, but you can stop at one collection if you get enough straws, the count for each straw is 45 mil per straw.