need semen advice?

A couple things to consider


 


#1) motility is a factor. you will need to look into this further.


 


#2) here is some quick math for you. Lets say you have excellent motility, a straw packed at 50 mil. with a 70% post thaw will give you a starting point of 35 mil. If you would shoot for lets say 8-10 mil. sperm per doe on frozen semen, which I believe is a good number, you could breed 4 does pretty comfortably.


 


I will say that some semen is better than others and I would ask for a post thaw evaluation with your straw(s) just to look at how the semen is preforming at 4, 6 12, and 24 hours.


 


Just remember It only takes one or two of those little guys to get the job done. Maybe one of the AI techs on here has another opinion for you. Best of luck!

Josh gives you good info. The stats associated with a semen collection are important. Just a thought for you to consider also is what did you pay for the straw. Now most would say the more you pay the more times you should split the straw. Of course only as many times as an expert says based on the info mentioned above. But now that semen prices have fallen to a more modest level I want to put a different spin on it. If a person doesn't pay a lot for a straw my thinking is why bother splitting it at all. Increase the odds of success, much simpler for the techs and simpler for the breeder because they don't have to pair up does during AI. Just a thought.

Many AI techs recommend different protocols for synchronization. Every doe ovulates slightly differently even when synchronized. If you keep exact records of the times you synchronized each one eventually you can get them all to breed by the AI. If a doe misses you may have to move her AI time slightly forward or backward in future breeding seasons. It is so important that semen still has good motility after four to six hours post thaw to achieve a high conception rate. Semen may have 90% motility 20minutes post thaw but can degrade very fast after a short time if handled improperly prior to freezing.

Jack did a great job explaining this and how the acrosome degrades under the "semen straws and guarantees" topic. Whomever does your LAP should have three cradles available to put your doe in side by side once they have been sedated.