Sexed Semen?

I think there has been a great discussion on the sexed semen topic in this thread. All very good inputs. As for good or bad, I guess I am still mostly sitting on the fence and yet undecided.



I will say that you will no longer just be able to offer a straw of semen or just buy a straw of semen from a sire. It will now need to be more descriptive from the seller side and certainly more details requested from the buyer side. You can't and shouldn't just go buy a straw any more without first asking if it is sexed or not and which sex. Then you are probably going to have to get into contractual guarantee's or may want to if you purchase a certain sexed straw. I can also see for those dishonest dealers out there this opens up a loophole to easily sell a straw of choice (buck, doe, conventional) and at their discretion if the purchaser does not ask. I hope it isn't an issue, but this is a caution that has crossed my mind and hope at least a few people see it to think the same way. Just be aware and detailed on dealings.



I guess I could just be a bit paranoid about the possibles. Anyway like I said, I'm still riding the fence, but I do see many pro's and con's to sexed semen. Hard to decide yet if it's good or bad.



Larry Armstrong

Armstrong Whitetails

I think that folks selling sexed semen will probably be more than willing to be straight forward about the semen they are selling. If they intend to get a return on investment then I think they will advertise and market their product so as to take advantage of the fact they are providing increased chances of a particular desired offspring. It would be counter productive misrepresent the semen they are selling. The deer farming industry is relatively small community and it would be business suicide to attain a reputation as an untrustworthy member of the industry.

It isn't good or bad - the question that needs to be asked is it cost effective. Is it going to return results in comparison to the cost - the cost to have semen drawn and sexed, the cost of AI (lap or vaginal) and the end result - how many fawns - how many are bucks. Then figure out the cost to raise that deer to a point where you sell it - did you come out ahead or not?

In my opinion sexed semen has a place for those that raise shooters. You can raise more bucks with less doe. If I was purchasing semen from someone to better my genetics I would ideally want a buck and a doe fawn out of every doe I Ai'd so conventional would be my choice. I know in Texas right now there is a huge demand for shooters that probably will not be met for several years. It's a good problem to have.

I was lucky with my first experence with collecting semen for sexing. I collected Arty. They told me he was a record setting buck. At 8 million cells/straw and 70% live he produced 167 male straws, and 164 female straws. With this quantity collected it made the price/straw very economical.



It made me and Chad think about collecting sexed semen with the goal to produce mature bucks. The Idea was to collect several buck and mix the semen only keeping the male straws. By doing this one can hope to reduce the price/straw, disregarding which buck in the cocktail fertilizes the egg. Again, the goal produce bucks.

For those of you that have used or talked to someone that has used sexed semen, what were the results as far as the number of offspring. I have heard that with the sexed semen you see more single births. Is this true?

Everyone has great points, it has a place when used properly. I have not used it, and believe it is like anything else new, until it is used and there are results on it, it remains a mystery. WWW has probably the greatest point in that is it cost effective. Higher cost plus lower birth rates may not be cost effective, unless you are looking at creating or duplicating a specific line.

We had mostly singles but did have twins and even triplets. The first year the straws were packed at about 6-7 million per straw and now 10-12 million. Using one straw per doe with Lap AI we had 45% and 70% doe conception on the two groups we did. The low conception rate group was AI'd in really bad wet, cold weather. I think doe stress may have affected the success. The 70% success was with yearling doe and usually they have singles anyways. Possibly a tad higher folligon or PMSG shot might increase that. I'd rather have one or two big healthy fawns than trips and quads anyways. If you don't have to buy the semen and use your own buck semen the cost averages out to 300-$500. If you shoot your bucks for $5,000+ vs selling doe for $1000-$2,500 but I think time and technology will increase the effectiveness of using sexed semen.

For the third year in a row i have had 75% does born naturally. I am already 5 out of 6 this year. I have tried different levels of protein and quality of feed. I need something to change soon or its not going to work out. has there been any research done on finding what causes this or how to naturally get more bucks. The only thing I can say is my tame does throw more doe fawns than my not as tame does. Maybe i need to start chasing my tame ones!

Flyingshamrock

Have you used the same breeder buck all three years?

I had a breeder that gave me 90+% doe fawns two yrs in a row. Last year I used a different buck and got 75% buck fawns. This year the same buck is giving me 65% buck fawns so far. I don't know if the buck is really making the difference or not, but it sure seems like it to me.

Different breeder buck and all different on the a.i. also.

I feel that the breeders are the people that would be using it. The cost would make shooters worth more then they would sell for. It's not going to hurt the market except make breeders sale higher to cover their cost. It will also put more deer money in the hands of lab workers instead of the deer farmers.

flyingshamrock said:

For the third year in a row i have had 75% does born naturally. I am already 5 out of 6 this year. I have tried different levels of protein and quality of feed. I need something to change soon or its not going to work out. has there been any research done on finding what causes this or how to naturally get more bucks. The only thing I can say is my tame does throw more doe fawns than my not as tame does. Maybe i need to start chasing my tame ones!

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The bucks are the ones that decide the sex of the fawns so you might look at your bucks doe% some bucks throw more does.

I myself am trying to build a herd of females to increase venison production. If I had the money I would certainly used sexed female sperm. However, for the amount of money they want for it I can go buy several adult females.

Fallow is a perfect example of how sexed semen could benefit his operation if it was financially affordable and beneficial. As prices drop this method may become a viable option to meet the needs of this specific application.

It takes time to find out what your breeder will do, so you may want to find another proven breeder buck or take your does to someone close to be bred to. My 2 breeders have been averaging 77% and 80% buck fawns. I'd rather be lucky than good! Lol.