Semen Tank fill

[HOSS]

Please help an A.I. rookie out. I bought an MVE20 semen tank. I called a local welding shop that fills them. They said that they get $4.00 per liter to fill it. It is a 20 liter tank so that would be $80.00. That sounds VERY high. Do you fill the tank with 20 liters or is much less the norm and 20 liters denotes the overall interior volume of the tank?

 

[TexasBred]

Please help an A.I. rookie out. I bought an MVE20 semen tank. I called a local welding shop that fills them. They said that they get $4.00 per liter to fill it. It is a 20 liter tank so that would be $80.00. That sounds VERY high. Do you fill the tank with 20 liters or is much less the norm and 20 liters denotes the overall interior volume of the tank?

Hoss, since I don't do the breeding I don't pay much attention to the semen tank....ABS comes by about every 6 weeks or so and fills ours for a "flat charge". $25 i think it is. You can also buy OB lube, gloves and other supplies off the truck.

 

[Alan]

Hoss, $80 seems very high, I paid $60 once, now I have my tank recharged for $20, if I need a fill for a spare tank it's $30. I bought some semen a couple years back and the rep, I can't rememeber who ABS or Genex, charged me $10 for the recharge another Rep charged me $50.... so they seem to be all over the board. The folks that charge me $20 for the recharge is called Airgas, they sell bottled gas, oxygen, CO2, LN2, welding supplies, etc. You may want to see if you can find a welding suppy outfit, or check with a few stud reps for price quotes. I should also say I have a MVE 20/20, I believe it is a 20 liter tank, so figure a recharge at around 6 or 7 liters. Another note is Airgas really does not fill the tank completly, meaning they turn off the LN2 when it starts to spit out of the tank, so it may be down 1/2 leter or so from full. Where as both the reps I have use will just turn down the volume and fill the tank to the top with true liquid and push out the excess with the plunger..... I hope my discreption makes sense.

Hope this helps,
Alan

 

[hillsdown]

Our semen contract is with westgen and it goes by the amount of semen you buy. Since I am small potatoes compared to the big dairy guys around me I pay alot more as I only spent 500-1000 a year on semen from them. Last year I payed $225 for the semen contract and they filled it 4 times for me, or rather topped it off. But there are other benefits of having them out ,they check my tank and fish out the odd straw that has fallen through as well as go through my AI supply box and leave me thinks that I am low on ,lube, sheaths etc.

If you are hauling your tank to them to be filled 80 sounds a little high.

 

[Frankie]

Please help an A.I. rookie out. I bought an MVE20 semen tank. I called a local welding shop that fills them. They said that they get $4.00 per liter to fill it. It is a 20 liter tank so that would be $80.00. That sounds VERY high. Do you fill the tank with 20 liters or is much less the norm and 20 liters denotes the overall interior volume of the tank?

Our ABS rep comes by every four months and fills our MVExc20/20 tank for $25. But we buy semen from him. I'd suggest you talk to the semen company reps in your area and see if they're willing to put you on their route. Or is there a dairy in your area where you could haul the tank when someone fills their tanks?

 

[hillsdown]

Hoss you will not be putting in 20 liters each time you fill either , you never ever want your tank to get down to any lower than half full all the time. Maybe you should get a semen contract with a rep to make you your tank is properly maintained that way you don't have to worry about it.

 

[HOSS]

Hoss, $80 seems very high, I paid $60 once, now I have my tank recharged for $20, if I need a fill for a spare tank it's $30. I bought some semen a couple years back and the rep, I can't rememeber who ABS or Genex, charged me $10 for the recharge another Rep charged me $50.... so they seem to be all over the board. The folks that charge me $20 for the recharge is called Airgas, they sell bottled gas, oxygen, CO2, LN2, welding supplies, etc. You may want to see if you can find a welding suppy outfit, or check with a few stud reps for price quotes. I should also say I have a MVE 20/20, I believe it is a 20 liter tank, so figure a recharge at around 6 or 7 liters. Another note is Airgas really does not fill the tank completly, meaning they turn off the LN2 when it starts to spit out of the tank, so it may be down 1/2 leter or so from full. Where as both the reps I have use will just turn down the volume and fill the tank to the top with true liquid and push out the excess with the plunger..... I hope my discreption makes sense.

Hope this helps,
Alan

Thanks Alan. I called Airgas and they said they would fill it for $30.00. This is an empty tank so it will not be a re-charge this time around. I'm going to take it to them maybe next week.

Hillsdown,

I am sure that with my operation that I won't be spending more than 600 to 750 dollars per year on semen so I am not sure that they will think its worth putting me on their route. I'll call my ABS guy and see. I also buy bulls from him so maybe he will cut me a break

 

[novatech]

Please help an A.I. rookie out. I bought an MVE20 semen tank. I called a local welding shop that fills them. They said that they get $4.00 per liter to fill it. It is a 20 liter tank so that would be $80.00. That sounds VERY high. Do you fill the tank with 20 liters or is much less the norm and 20 liters denotes the overall interior volume of the tank?

Bovine Elite is $2.50 per liter or $1.50 per lb. The vet local vet clinic is about the same.

 

[novaman]

Hoss you will not be putting in 20 liters each time you fill either , you never ever want your tank to get down to any lower than half full all the time. Maybe you should get a semen contract with a rep to make you your tank is properly maintained that way you don't have to worry about it.

I was told by the instructor of my AI class that the level of nitrogen doesn't matter so much as there is some in the tank. It seems to me he said you could have just a couple tablespoons of N and it would keep the semen frozen. Not sure if that's true but I don't want to take the chance. I get my tank topped off for free every 8 weeks when the rep comes around on his route. I don't have a contract or anything like that. But I do spend lots of money on semen so I suppose I'm considered a VIP :lol2:

 

[hillsdown]

Hoss you will not be putting in 20 liters each time you fill either , you never ever want your tank to get down to any lower than half full all the time. Maybe you should get a semen contract with a rep to make you your tank is properly maintained that way you don't have to worry about it.

I was told by the instructor of my AI class that the level of nitrogen doesn't matter so much as there is some in the tank. It seems to me he said you could have just a couple tablespoons of N and it would keep the semen frozen. Not sure if that's true but I don't want to take the chance. I get my tank topped off for free every 8 weeks when the rep comes around on his route. I don't have a contract or anything like that. But I do spend lots of money on semen so I suppose I'm considered a VIP :lol2:

Our AI rep that we bought our tank from said no less than 16 on the dip stick and that is about half. I have embryos in there as well and I know it will most likely be safe to go down more as we have a really good tank I just do not want to risk it. At the dairy our fill was free every month but we spent alot of money on semen too, as we were pretty much 100% AI. We had the same rep when we moved here and he gave me a really good deal on my contract it was about 15 dollars a fill 5 times a year but he got a huge promotion and our new guy charges by how much semen you buy from him.
Our old rep was a heck of a nice guy and he would usually schedule us so that he could spend the whole afternoon to go through the cattle and just visit and discuss genetics. No wonder he was promoted , that is what a rep should be and why specifically bought from him. I am sure he made a pretty decent commission off of us. He was truly interested in improving your herd and matching your sires to improve your cattle, be it dairy or beef. Now I have to do all the research myself.

 

[Alan]

Hoss you will not be putting in 20 liters each time you fill either , you never ever want your tank to get down to any lower than half full all the time. Maybe you should get a semen contract with a rep to make you your tank is properly maintained that way you don't have to worry about it.

I was told by the instructor of my AI class that the level of nitrogen doesn't matter so much as there is some in the tank. It seems to me he said you could have just a couple tablespoons of N and it would keep the semen frozen. Not sure if that's true but I don't want to take the chance. I get my tank topped off for free every 8 weeks when the rep comes around on his route. I don't have a contract or anything like that. But I do spend lots of money on semen so I suppose I'm considered a VIP :lol2:

I was told be a rep the tank should not below 10 on the dipstick, I try to recharge around 18 to 20.

Alan