Serving protocols

[Dead Rabbits]

One at anytime here.
I will have several service periods in a day though so there's never too many to do at any one time.
Never worked out how folk get their cows to ovulate all at the same time every day?.

Well trained cows. Yours just need a bit of discipline

 

[Princess Pooper]

We only ever thaw one at a time but we don't block calve or synch. Max number we would need would be about 8 or 10 in a day and then they would be served at different times depending exactly when they were seen bulling. Bulling heifers tend to lose out because they only get served in daylight hours although we would still do am and pm if that is what the timings needed. Cows done any time between 6 am and 9 pm.

 

[Cuthbert]

Most important thing I was told is not to let the semen warm up and cool down, so however you thaw it keep the temperature rising slowly until it’s in the cow at the correct temperature.

 

[Holsteinfriesian90]

Watched a AHDB webinar on fertility yesterday.
No startling revelations contained within it. But a useful refresher none the less. Plus interesting comparisons between AYR and block calving.
Anyway a question was asked around how many guns to load in any one go.
Without saying what was suggested by he vet lets say I was surprised. So I thought I would ask what goes on i the real world. Both for normal and sexed semen.

How many did the vet suggest?

 

[lazy farmer]

How many did the vet suggest?

One. Especially with sexed

 

[Cows 'n grass]

One. Especially with sexed

From the second you take a straw out of the flask, sperm are dying off. One at a time therefore has to be considered best practice. It's not up to a vet to consider what is reasonable or practical, they should always recommend what is best practice.

 

[lazy farmer]

Front the second you take a straw out of the flask, sperm are dying off. One at a time therefore has to be considered best practice. It's not up to a vet to consider what is reasonable or practical, they should always recommend what is best practice.

It’s made me think though.
we could move the flask to being right by the race. Which would mean we could serve fewer in one go and not loose time.
but it would mean we couldn’t footbath without moving it which I understand is not ideal.
Though thinking out loud it wouldn’t have to be for the entire service period. Only until we are down to 2 or 3 a day so 5 weeks or so.

 

[Rossymons]

It’s made me think though.
we could move the flask to being right by the race. Which would mean we could serve fewer in one go and not loose time.
but it would mean we couldn’t footbath without moving it which I understand is not ideal.
Though thinking out loud it wouldn’t have to be for the entire service period. Only until we are down to 2 or 3 a day so 5 weeks or so.

Moving the flask is fine. At -200'C the semen is fine. What you dont want to be doing is lifting the goblets up and down unnecessarily. So if moving the flask to and from the race every day helps speed the job up without compromising quality then go for it.

 

[Hill Dairy]

Moving the flask is fine. At -200'C the semen is fine. What you dont want to be doing is lifting the goblets up and down unnecessarily. So if moving the flask to and from the race every day helps speed the job up without compromising quality then go for it.

There could be a compromise here as if only serving one at a time with 150 straws in a goblet that's 150 times lifted as apposed to 30 if serving 5 at a time.
I always do five at a time as I'm usually serving on my own so would be a lot of trips if there's 30 to do it would mean a longer wait for cows so more stress .. lower conception?

 

[sidjon]

What you dont want to be doing is lifting the goblets up and down unnecessarily. So if moving the flask to and from the race every day helps speed the job up without compromising quality then go for it.

We've only have one bull per goblet, so tech's aren't searching for different bulls or odd times if we have to put 2 bulls in a goblet, we make sure they're different colours so easy to spot.

 

[Rossymons]

There could be a compromise here as if only serving one at a time with 150 straws in a goblet that's 150 times lifted as apposed to 30 if serving 5 at a time.
I always do five at a time as I'm usually serving on my own so would be a lot of trips if there's 30 to do it would mean a longer wait for cows so more stress .. lower conception?

I would say its marginal either way but if you're comfortable with 5 then do 5. How much do you value your own time?

 

[Rossymons]

We've only have one bull per goblet, so tech's aren't searching for different bulls or odd times if we have to put 2 bulls in a goblet, we make sure they're different colours so easy to spot.

That would always be my preferred way of doing things for several reasons.

1)Smaller number of bulls = greater herd uniformity. Feeding a large number of very similar cows is a lot easier than feeding a larger number of cows that arent similar.

2)Its easier for the tech doing the job. If I could find the bull, load the gun then find the cow whilst blindfolded my attention and energy is focused on getting the semen in the right spot as quickly as possible. When you're stressed and running around a lot you're probably cursing and thinking about why the job is so hard rather than the job itself.

3)as a company we record the batch numbers of every straw of semen we have on our Precison Repro farms for quality control. Having a larger number of straws on farm will allow for high accuracy in data collection to drive this further.

 

[Cows 'n grass]

It’s made me think though.
we could move the flask to being right by the race. Which would mean we could serve fewer in one go and not loose time.
but it would mean we couldn’t footbath without moving it which I understand is not ideal.
Though thinking out loud it wouldn’t have to be for the entire service period. Only until we are down to 2 or 3 a day so 5 weeks or so.

Does your AI tech do the whole job or are you loading guns, recording everything and tail painting?

 

[Green Grass]

How many people test straws from their own flask pre service? Heard of many instances where one bull has had significantly poorer conception rates than avg in heard. Transport carriers seem to be a weak link?

 

[lazy farmer]

Does your AI tech do the whole job or are you loading guns, recording everything and tail painting?

No the tech loads and serves,we do the tail paint and tickets. Socially distanced of course!

 

[Philip Bealing]

Buy a microscope on ebay , thaw a straw and play with its contents , its very cheap to find out how long a thawed cell can survive , be careful who and where you get your advice , at the very least ask for the scientific records to support it , otherwise it will probably be as good as pub talk .

 

[Alan88]

I just do one at a time. Been doing it for a couple of years now and when I thaw a couple I always end up with an awkward one first that seems to take too long for me get right. When the straw is thawed I put it down my back between by t-shirt and hoody/coat