The paper end of A.I.

[Alan]

Beside the common sense physical part of A.I., how does the business end of it work? Lets say I buy 10 straws from a ranch to put in my tank.

1. How do they ship the semen? what kind of container do they ship in and on dry ice?

2. How does the certificates work, wait until the calf is born and then ask for the certificate on the ones you want to reg, I'm assuming the certificate is to get the calf reg.?

3. With Quarter Horses you have to have the mares and the stud's DNA on file to prove the foal is from the subject animals, how it work with cattle?

Select sires has a local class I'm looking into, I'll let my bull cover my cows (or most of them) after calving season this spring and then ship him.

Thanks,
Alan

 

[dun]

If you get the semen from one of the main bull studs, they will deliver it to your tank. If you get it from someone else they ship it in a dry shipper. It's a type of small vacum tank that has the inner material saturated with liquid nitorgen to keep it frozen. They ship it to you, you put the esemen in your tank and return the shipper. Certificates are only required when you register the calf. Not sure about the DNA end of it. Seems like some associations require it and some don;t

dun

 

[Bez!]

Beside the common sense physical part of A.I., how does the business end of it work? Lets say I buy 10 straws from a ranch to put in my tank.

1. How do they ship the semen? what kind of container do they ship in and on dry ice?

2. How does the certificates work, wait until the calf is born and then ask for the certificate on the ones you want to reg, I'm assuming the certificate is to get the calf reg.?

3. With Quarter Horses you have to have the mares and the stud's DNA on file to prove the foal is from the subject animals, how it work with cattle?

Select sires has a local class I'm looking into, I'll let my bull cover my cows (or most of them) after calving season this spring and then ship him.

Thanks,
Alan

Alan

I do not own a tank.

If you want to avoid the tank - which is simply a personal choice - you have some options.

Here is the option this family chose.

I am not trained in AI and have no interest. Too busy with other stuff.

We buy all of our semen from places far and wide. It is shipped directly to the company we deal with - Eastern Breeders. How it gets there I do not know or care - it is a piece of the "behind the scenes" business - but get there it does and always with no trouble.

EB stores our semen in their tank(s) at a cost to us of 3 bucks per month. That cost - to the best of my knowledge does not change - until we hit the 100 straw mark - and we never do.

When we want an animal bred we simply call them up and they come - tech, semen and such. Animal is bred and we pay 15 bucks for the tech.

Advantages to us - no tank, no fuss or muss about shipping and no worries about keeping the tank filled / tank maintenance.

Now, I have a friend - she actually trades in semen straws - she probably keeps more than a thousand assorted straws on hand at all times - she owns her own tank and has straws delivered directly to her door via a small delivery tank that she has to pay for - when it is returned her money is refunded.

I cannot answer the certificate issues - others will have to do that - while we breed true, we do not register our animals - there is no pay back for us in this country - and I am not interested in getting into the purebred game.

Regards,

Bez!

 

[edb130]

1. How do they ship the semen? what kind of container do they ship in and on dry ice?

2. How does the certificates work, wait until the calf is born and then ask for the certificate on the ones you want to reg, I'm assuming the certificate is to get the calf reg.?

3. With Quarter Horses you have to have the mares and the stud's DNA on file to prove the foal is from the subject animals, how it work with cattle?

Alan,

As to the first question Dun already answered that. The second depends on the breed you'll be working with. With Limousin there is no certificate required to register your calf. However, DNA is required if the offspring is from an embryo flush or if the you wish to collect your resulting bull calves for A.I. purposes. Other breeds do require certificates.

 

[txag]

you're registering herefords, right?

2. How does the certificates work, wait until the calf is born and then ask for the certificate on the ones you want to reg, I'm assuming the certificate is to get the calf reg.?

i order the certificates right before i'm ready to register calves. the certificate(s) will need to be sent to the AHA before they will process the registrations. i do most of mine through Jim Reed & he releases them straight to the assoc, so the certificate never actually comes to me. i'll get a bill from Reed for the cert & a bill from the AHA for the registrations.

3. With Quarter Horses you have to have the mares and the stud's DNA on file to prove the foal is from the subject animals, how it work with cattle?

not for a.i. calves. before you can flush a cow or collect semen on a bull, their DNA will need to be on file with the AHA.