Semen Handling in Cold Weather Part I
Transcript of Select Sires' Reproductive Moment Program
on DairyLine Radio Which Aired Nov. 9, 2006
With Ray Nebel,
Senior Reproduction and Herd Management Specialist at Select Sires.

Ray, with weather turning cold it’s an excellent time to take a moment to review one of the most basic aspects of the AI program, and that is semen handling.

That’s correct, Bill. There’s certain precautions that need to be taken in cooler weather, or cold weather, and that’s with semen handling because we are thawing semen that’s been stored in liquid nitrogen. We are going to bring that semen up to body temperature and that handling of the semen from the time it is brought up to body temperature and to the cow when we inseminate the cow is critical.

You say it is critical but it can be overlooked.

It’s easily overlooked because we get into a routine, especially coming through summertime and fall where it’s not that critical, when the temperature outside, the environmental temperature, and the temperature of the semen isn’t that far off; we don’t have a problem maintaining that temperature. We kind of get in a routine where the outside temperature is warm and we just get lax in our procedures or maybe a little bit sloppy sometimes. So it is overlooked until it comes into the first cold snap or really get into that cold weather that it becomes really critical.

How do we make sure those frozen straws stay frozen?

Well, there are really two things. One is the actual exposure from when are pulling the semen out of the tank itself. Every tank when we pull the plug out there is a frost line that develops and it’s different depending on the size of the tank and width of the neck tube, but if you look down into the tank the liquid nitrogen tank there is a frost line that develops and we want to keep that canister below that frost line and only bring the cane of semen we’re going to pull semen from above that frost line. So that’s the first critical issue, after we’ve maintain that as our criteria that we stop the canister at that frost line and only bring above that frost line that cane of semen that contains the units that we are going to thaw, again Select Sires recommends and NAAB, National Association of Animal Breeders, recommends 95-degree water for a minimum of 45 seconds. Forty-five seconds allows the semen to get up to 95 degrees. Once we remove that semen from the thaw box and the thaw water, it is 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Now what becomes critical here is that we maintain that temperature until we put it into the cow. So, we want to protect it, we want to warm the gun; all the surfaces that will come in contact with that semen have to be at that temperature so the warming of the gun and the sheath has to be at that temperature. When we dry the straw and we clip the end and put it in the gun and then put the sheath over it, then we protect it and then put it within our clothing so that when we bring it out to the cow it will maintain its temperature.

Thanks, Ray. We will continue this discussion next week on our Reproductive Moment. That’s Ray Nebel, Reproductive Solutions specialist from Select Sires.