semen storage

[dj]

can the home freezer store semen safely/effectively

 

[Chuck]

Nope- not anywhere near cold enough. Gotta have a tank.

 

[bulldealer]

Liquid Nitrogen (LN2) is approx. -320 degrees below 0. I dont imagine your freezer is much more than 20 degrees to possibly 0.

 

[bwranch]

Here's some info, there's a section on storage which mentions storage of fresh semen for several days at 40F.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/DS089

Lee

 

[bigbull338]

no you cant store seman in a home freezer you need to keep it ay super freezing temp. an the seman tank an liquid nitrogen are made for that pourpose. scott

 

[certherfbeef]

Here's some info, there's a section on storage which mentions storage of fresh semen for several days at 40F.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/DS089

Lee

This article is kinda inacurate. here is a piece from it.

Semen is usually stored in glass ampules. Other methods appear promising, particularly the French-straw. Several AI organizations have gone to this method exclusively.

Ampules are old and this article was cited in 1992. However the information is not current. I don't think they put semen in ampules anymore.

Which would then lead me to believe that the storage information that is mentioned about liquid semen being held at 40 degrees is also dated and is now inaccurate.

dj, If you need to store some either get a L2 tank or have the ai tech store it for you. Maybe even a neighbor. Don't put it in the freezer. Besides...spouse might not like the new brand of popsicles :shock:

 

[dun]

Here's some info, there's a section on storage which mentions storage of fresh semen for several days at 40F.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/DS089

Lee

This article is kinda inacurate. here is a piece from it.

Semen is usually stored in glass ampules. Other methods appear promising, particularly the French-straw. Several AI organizations have gone to this method exclusively.

Ampules are old and this article was cited in 1992. However the information is not current. I don't think they put semen in ampules anymore.

Which would then lead me to believe that the storage information that is mentioned about liquid semen being held at 40 degrees is also dated and is now inaccurate.

dj, If you need to store some either get a L2 tank or have the ai tech store it for you. Maybe even a neighbor. Don't put it in the freezer. Besides...spouse might not like the new brand of popsicles :shock:

Even in the early/mid 80's most cattle semen was being put up in straws

dun

 

[bwranch]

Yep, you're both right. I was just pointing out that it could be stored for short periods at 32 F when freshly collected. Guess it never occured to me that someone would actually try to store processed semen in a home freezer. If I remember my tidbits of history correctly, some of the original AI work was done on horses and the collected semen was stored in snow banks for several days. Should have clarified it a bit not to leave someone with false impressions.

Lee

 

[dj]

Guess it never occured to me that someone would actually try to store processed semen in a home freezer.
Lee

Well you can't say that any more. The tank almost empty and I
didn't have any other options so.........
At least this saves the embrassment of having them tested in person.

 

[Tod Dague]

Holly smokes! I hope you didn't have a lot of high $ semen in there. I know two people who have had their tanks go dry. Thousands of dollars burnt up. Made me sick to hear about it. One of them had one of those alarms on it that tell you when it was getting low, it never went off. The other lived off the farm where his tank was kept. The man that was maintaining the LN in the tank for him retired and didn't tell him.

I have become somewhat obsessed with checking my tank.

 

[bwranch]

dj
That's tough luck. You gotta do what you gotta do. Before you trash them you might get them back into liq N2 and then take one or two to the vet to check for viability. Alternatively you could get a microscope and see if the little guys are still swimming on warm up. Maybe you'll get lucky. Sure can't hurt anything, and by the way, I didn't mean any offense. I had a Caustic moment. ;-) Hope it turns out OK for you.

Lee

 

[certherfbeef]

I have become somewhat obsessed with checking my tank.

There is no somewhat obsessed here. That tank gets checked religiously once a week. If the Genex rep is gonna be held up, I get a prompt phone call. Too much invested in that stuff not to pay that $20 for a fill every 8 weeks. Don't want to lose those few straws of good red angus semen I have left.

Select Sires rep was maintaining our tank 7 or 8 years ago. Had been for that many before. The top of the tank was froze up one day when he can in to charge it. And just so happened to be a hammer laying on the bench there. He used the hammer to tap the plug out of the tank to fill it. In the process it exploded blowing all but one cane into the hay mow and covering him with nitrogen. He ran out of the barn hooting and hollering and stripping his shirt off.
He was ok but has never been back since. Lost some good old hereford semen that day. The only semen that didn't land in the hay was a herf bull called Knight Ryder. I went ahead and tossed it into the hay too.

 

[Dre]

I Have a Select Sires rep fill my tank with no probs He is always there too I have some semen from Bon View New Design (Black angus) and he just went to $70 a straw I dont know if you consider that high $ but it is to me I hope my tank never ever runs dry I would loose a lot of money Not to mention the offspring Im looking forward to.