Straws vs Amps

[Simbeef10]

Is there a difference in conception rates between breeding with straws or amps? 

 

[kiblercattle]

We used amps last year and normally I do my own ai work but have a buddy that works for abs breed the cows with them and we had just about 80% conception rate with just giving a lute shot to synch them up. If you are just a so so breeder I would have someone that a professional do it due to the fact you need to be quick.

 

[cbcr]

Ampules used to be the way the semen was packaged.  Some of the old ones were I think 1cc and then ABS came out with their 1/2 cc ampules.  Some you had to use a scribe and score them.

I bred quite a bit for several dairies around and had a couple of customers that if they had 2 - 4 cows that needed to be bred, they would call me and we would use the ampule and split them and breed up to 4 cows.  Usually the semen was $75 - $250.  This was back in the late 70's.

 

[CAB]

We used amps last year and normally I do my own ai work but have a buddy that works for abs breed the cows with them and we had just about 80% conception rate with just giving a lute shot to synch them up. If you are just a so so breeder I would have someone that a professional do it due to the fact you need to be quick.

Kibler, why do you think that you have to be quick? For me it's way, way more important to be accurate with the semen placement verse speed. Speed will be and is an indication of experience but where's only one way to gain experience along with speed, breed more cattle.

 

[kiblercattle]

Reason I say quick and I ment quick and accurate. We used infusion pipettes witha 2 cc syringe on it and I just didn't feel we were able protect it from temperature change as much as with the standard straw technique now. So I felt time was of the essence.

 

[justintime]

Some of the best flushes I have had in recent years have been when using ampules. I am not sure if there is any truth to it or not, but it seems to me, that there was much more viable sperm in an ampule. Two years ago, I did two flushes and used two different bulls that were collected in the early 70s. Because this semen was almost 45 years old, I had the ET center check it under the microscope  before the donors were bred. In both cases, they said they wished all the semen they used for flushing was as good as these semen samples were.
In regards to having to be quicker when using ampules, I don't know if I agree with this or not. I have seen ampules thawed in almost every possible way, and we seemed to have pretty good results. When we started to AI, our old technician used to take a ampule off the cane and put it in his pocket for a few minutes. I often wondered what would have happened to him if sometime an ampule had exploded when being thawed. I had an ampule explode while I was thawing it in a thaw box, and it literally destroyed the inside of the thaw box.  I have seen ampules thawed in ice water, warm water or like this guy did, in his pocket.

 

[CAB]

It's been so long ago that I have used an amp that I can't remember if it was 2 or 5 minutes in ice water in the thaw box. Anyone know?

 

[kiblercattle]

We did 5 minutes