Semen quality

2.5 million ???????? WOW WOW WOW !!!!!


I sure could have had a crap load more straws in the tank from my bucks then. That is just crap that anyone would process straws like that. And if growers knowingly sold straws like that I would consider that going beyond bad business practices.


I don't have the numbers in front of me but I think my bucks were packed at about 45 to 50 million each. And only excellent quality was ever sold.


Sorry to hear you had issues like that Jack. It sure would be good for people to know what bucks and what processors had straws packed like that. If you don't want to share that info here please email me privately.

Roger who tells you the quality of semen after is packed? The storage place like Great Lakes? We drawn semen from 3 of our bucks for the first time It looked great under a microscope but that was when we drawn it? Im curious to know?

Jack, I can say out of all the straws I thawed for people this year your mule deer semen was packed better than any other straw! I only saw one straw of semen that looked remotely comparable to the mule deer semen. I think people are definitely trying to stretch those straws further in an effort to recoup the money invested in collecting a deer. I think part of the issue is the actual cost of collecting a deer. I do not know all the prices, but I have heard of several places making 100 straws and it costing almost $1000 by the time everything was all said and done. I agree with the mindset, make fewer high quality straws knowing they are packed extremely tight! When I was at Wayne Scott's farm a couple of weeks ago he and I talked about that specifically. In his words "I would rather have 30-40 straws packed as tight as you can, instead of 150 straws of lower quality semen." I couldn't agree more! Now if only everyone would adopt that same mindset. 

 Our buck Vinny was packed at 60 million each.

RyanM84888261385208240

Roger who tells you the quality of semen after is packed? The storage place like Great Lakes? We drawn semen from 3 of our bucks for the first time It looked great under a microscope but that was when we drawn it? Im curious to know?


The semen I had collected over the years was done by 3 different vets. Only one vet went through the kind of process I was impressed by. Dr Bringans not only evaluated the semen raw right after collection. He then would evaluate it after freezing and unthawing it again. He also sent a straw or two away to have it tested for some sort of bacterial or whatever testing to insure it was of optimal health. Those reports were then sent to me for my records. During his own evaluation at my place he looked for not only living cells but injured cells. A cell with a broken tail is alive but useless because it can't swim anywhere but in circles. Hands down by far his process was the very best. It didn't matter to him how many straws he got. He didn't try to stretch it out at all. Not only did we pack straws heavy as the norm, but then on some collections we packed super straws that he said could be split even more times comfortably. Ryan as a side point to your question. Great Lakes is a storage facility. Unfortunately people think using them means they have a vet doing the collection. While in fact he is not a vet. Send me an email and I can share a couple of examples of poor semen with you. It is important to have the right people collecting your bucks AND the bucks you buy semen from.

I have been to GLSS and have also seen Earl do collections, he has a top notch facility/equipment, has strict standards for the semen he collects and the semen he receives and freezes.


I went to the Safe Capture repro seminar a couple years ago and it was said that with a GOOD collection the max # of straws would be 50-60 straws/collection packed at 55-60 mil/straw.  So when people are continually getting 100+ straws/collection you can assume that most are packaged about half that.


 


It will be interesting to see with the new technology coming out of Canada for sexed semen if they can pack straws that can be split.  Instead of using a  magnetic field this technology uses a dye that is taken up to split male/female semen.  A laser then zaps the semen not wanted. They claim a much higher conception rate and concentration of the semen. The machines were supposed to be out last spring but are not yet.  

I still think it comes back to the Farm and the Person drawing the semen and "GREED"...............I have used some semen from farms that had the "Flavor" of that Season and had A/I person look at it and say it was NOT good enough to split very few "Swimmers in the Pool"and was barely good enough to put the whole straw into a single doe and the these were straws that were going for 5,000 + and this farm was selling 100's of straws! I guess it had to be extended more to fill orders ?


 


I also think it comes down to Semen Drawer.....................They get PAID by the straw.............More Straws = More Money!

Why not say who it came from?

We have used both Great Lakes and Dr. Bringans for semen collection and they both do a top notch job insuring quality. We have had some draws where the semen wasn't great and they label it for farm use only, if we even want to keep it.