Semen shipment

[shadyhollownj]

Heres my 2 cents from a guy that started with cows and ai'ing last year. First I would definetly take an ai class even if you dont feel comfortable doing it yourself. The class will tell everything there is to know about semen, process, and heat detection. I took mine from selectsires at the local sale barn for 175 bucks. I was the only guy that paid though since in the philly area there is only dairy farmers that ai and they already used the company. Feel the companies out though. Even though I took a selectsires class I use abs because I am still waiting for the salesman for selectsires to stop by the farm in his busy schedule. As far as the two straws 12 hours apart and a straw for each horn I would never ask that vet took look at my truck let alone my animals. A vet of all people should know how the heat cycle of a cow works. But anyway it costs me 50 bucks to get my tank filled every 20 weeks. They tell you to fill every 12 but at 12 weeks I still have about 16 cm in my tank. So thats more than 2 cents but thats what I got to say. Hope it helped.

 

[RD-Sam]

I see Kerley is from Alabama. We recently purchased a place in NW Alabama, could someone help us both out and tell us about who services your tanks. I know about Bama Sire Service are there any others in the Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia zone you could recommend.

Bama Sire Service fills my tank.

 

[chippie]

This is for the original poster.

Talk to the semen company to make sure that they can ship it when you need it. You can't always depend on the carrier unless you pay to have it shipped overnight. Even then, it may not get there in time.

Your best bet is to order the semen in advance, find someone who has a tank and will store the semen until you need it.

The reason I say this is that I have our mares bred AI. The cooled semen is shipped overnight and we have had the carrier not deliver it in a timely manner, even though we paid for it.

Have you checked into semen and shipping cost yet? The last semen we had shipped regular UPS service cost almost $80. That was about 3 years ago.

 

[ColemanCreekCattle]

Just a thought--- ABS has semen tanks real cheap every Summer after the mass amounts of semen is sent west to breed cows in cow country.... You can find them cheap and it is a good investment i your future. You can get a 20 week tank for about $300. Call ABS

 

[ffamom]

We use welding supplie stores to fill our tank. Not all will have nitrogen, but some will. Our tank usually cost around $20 to fill.