AI in bad weather?

[Idahoboy]

I am planning on breeding some of my uncle's cows for him later this afternoon, but the weather decided to get pretty nasty last night. The wind is blowing at 15 mph, it is 32 degrees, and it is snowing like crazy. Does anyone know whether or not we should go on with the breeding of these cows? The chute is outdoors also so we won't be able to avoid the weather. Thanks!

 

[CAB]

You are aware of the conditions, just do as good of job as you can to protect the semen and get it in the cow asap as always. It'll be fine.

 

[cbcr]

I have had to breed cows in this type of weather before.  Last time I think the wind chill was around 10 degrees or lower.  Not a pleasant experience.

One thing that I do is I do not thaw the semen in the warm water bath.  Was always taught and told to keep the semen temperature going up for best results.

I usually put it under my arm for a couple of minutes, wipe, cut the end, insert into straw and then put in the gun.  I'm sure you will have a vehicle there, so you can also warm the gun up a little with the vehicle heater.  Wrap in a paper towel which will help to insulate and then you can put it inside of a coat to help keep it warm.

You should get along fine.  Good Luck!

 

[BLRanch]

One thing that I do is I do not thaw the semen in the warm water bath.  Was always taught and told to keep the semen temperature going up for best results.

I usually put it under my arm for a couple of minutes, wipe, cut the end, insert into straw and then put in the gun.  I'm sure you will have a vehicle there, so you can also warm the gun up a little with the vehicle heater.  Wrap in a paper towel which will help to insulate and then you can put it inside of a coat to help keep it warm.

I don't know if this is necessarily true, because in my mind heat is heat, but I was told by a Genex distributor that you can not hand thaw semen from most of the major distributors (besides Genex.) He told me it had something to do with the substance that they used to dilute the semen with. But with a thaw bath roughly the same temperature as your hand the only major difference would be the thaw bath providing a more evenly distributed heat.

In regards to having to deal with cold weather, I wouldn't be worried about it. As a relief breeder, we had to breed last year in temps lower than -20 degrees.  Like the others said before, be very careful with semen handling, get it in the cow quickly, and you'll be fine.

 

[Woody]

I breed cows for a living. I would not thaw my semen on my body in any way shape or form. A water bath will evenly thaw your semen, especially if you are using .5cc straws. I breed over 200 cows each week no matter what the weather is, my only advice is to keep it protected and minimize temperature changes (shock to the semen).

 

[cbcr]

I have been breeding cows myself for over 40 years.  It is not always where there is access or easy to do a water bath to thaw the semen.

I know what the AI companies say, but I have always had good luck with thawing the semen under my arm.  I have not had any issues with conception rates with this method either.

 

[Bulldaddy]

Every year, I have to breed some cows when the weather is really cold (even in Texas!).  I keep a heating pad in the barn to warm my gun, scissors and sheaths.  After the semen is thawed and the gun loaded, I place it inside my goose down vest until I get to the chute to breed the cow.  This system has worked well for me over the years and I get all my cows bred AI.

 

[Woody]

Let me rephrase this: if you are happy giving up 8-15% conception to not have to use warm water, then have at it. 

 

[Till-Hill]

Woody where is this data you have found giving up 8-15%? For 5 years at the other farm I pocket thawed all semen (even ones your not supposed to!) and have had same results over the last 5 years after investing in a truck plug in one.

Also if I remember right Genex did a study and it had no correlation on preg rates on water-pocket thaw. I will dig that up.

 

[cbcr]

I know what the AI companies say.  There are different methods.  If you have a method that works, right or wrong then use it.

Looking back, on the last group that I bred that were sync'd, we ended up with 82% bred on a timed AI.  I have always ran above average conception rates.

 

[Till-Hill]

http://documents.crinet.com/Genex-Cooperative-Inc/Learning-Center/F3227-022-DavisPocketThaw.pdf

Equal fertility this document says. I have never had an issue. Biggest thing is keep warm ONCE IT'S WARM!

And yes cbcr, if it works then it really doesn't matter what other people do!