Tag Archives: artificial insemination

Biotechnology in Cattle: Artificial Insemination goals for dairy farmers


A few weeks ago, I started a series featuring biotechnology tools used in cattle herds across the country. David and Jennifer Heim are friends of mine and own a dairy farm in northeast Kansas. The Heims milk 85-100 Holstein cows and raise their heifer calves as replacements. They also raise corn, soybeans, hay, and other forages, mostly for feed. Jennifer greatly enjoys spending time with her breeding and genetics program and does an awesome job blogging about the events and decisions made on the farm. When she wrote this blog post describing their use of Artificial Insemination in the herd, I was pretty excited that she is allowing me to share it with you.

Holstein Dairy Calf Hutch Artificial Insemination

This little gal (who is not this little any more) is from one of the cows I personally bred, which is a very cool feeling. She’s out of the bull Boliver, who happens to be one of the few proven bulls we were using last year.

Breeding is important, but it really doesn’t matter what you breed a cow to if she doesn’t get pregnant. Last spring, we started using blood tests to confirm pregnancies. Since then we’ve tweaked our protocol to best suit our herd’s needs. Our milk hauler picks up our blood samples, and I am usually home on Sundays to draw blood, so every other Sunday, when our milk will be picked up on a Monday morning, I take blood samples from cows and heifers that were bred between 8 and 10 weeks prior who have not shown a heat since. The test can indicate pregnancy at 28 days, but we were observing a lot of heats just shortly after testing, and about a month after testing, when we were testing earlier. We’ve been on the every-other week at 8 weeks bred schedule for 3 or 4 months now, and have had very few come back in heat after being confirmed pregnant.

Several weeks ago we wrapped up pregnancy confirmations on all our cows and heifers that were bred in 2012. We tallied everything up, and here’s what we learned:

What are your conception rates with artificial insemination?

We started out the year with great conception – about 60%. Then we had two unexplained terrible months in March and April. Summer brought normal lulls due to heat, but was still better than March or April. After the heat subsided and the herd adjusted, we finished the year with solid conception and a lot of pregnancies, including several cows who were on their final attempts. Next fall may be busier than this one was.

How do you select sires with artificial insemination?

We used a lot of bulls – 34 total. Of many of these, we only used one or two straws as we were finishing a cane (the typical semen storage vessel, each holding 10 straws) as the year started or starting one as it ended. But, we were also only purchasing 10 units of most bulls. This wasn’t exactly unintentional. We were using mostly genomic bulls (the numbers come from DNA testing rather than daughter-proven performance), and since the technology is new, we like to balance our risk by using a variety. However, on paper, it was a little shocking,. We also hadn’t realized how few daughter-proven bulls we included in the mix.

What lessons have you learned with AI on the farm?

The excitement of genomics apparently went to our heads. We used 10 units of a sire named G W Atwood who has the show-rings buzzing with his fancy daughters, but in hindsight, that’s one of the worst investments we made. Don’t get me wrong, Atwood daughters are beautiful cows, but many are too tall for our stalls and less efficient from a feed intake vs milk production standpoint than daughters of other available bulls. That’s not what we’re looking for. Thankfully (I guess?), from the 10 units we only have two pregnancies, and they’re both short stocky old cows that should be complemented by Atwood’s dairy type, and their smaller stature will hopefully influence the stature of their potential daughters.

We also learned that conception is important. We knew this, but after the terrible time we had last spring, it really has started to hit home. One of my favorite bulls we used last year isn’t very fancy. His production isn’t off the charts. He’s just a decent bull, but he does his job – he gets cows bred. We purchased Shyster for two primary reasons – 1) his pedigree is a out-cross on almost everything we have (he’s not a cousin or brother to many of our cows) and 2) he was listed as a high conception bull. I’m not sure what his overall conception rate is in our herd now, but I know he was 3 for 3 on his first three breedings including a cow and a heifer who we had already given more chances to get pregnant than most farms would. Shyster gets cows bred, and that’s what breeding is really all about!

What plans does your farm have moving forward with AI breeding?

Our biggest take-away from all the data was the need to focus on our specific goals moving forward. Our plan for 2013 is to use more units of a few carefully selected proven bulls while still mixing in a variety of genomic bulls who best fit our goals, based on both numbers and pedigree. These steps will hopefully help us achieve the focus we feel we are lacking.

What traits are you looking for in dairy cows?

Holstein Dairy Calf Hutch Artificial Insemination

This calf is over a year old now, and we confirmed her bred today. She’s out of the bull Planet, who is still near the top of the proven lists, and is bred to sexed Grafeeti. We are milking two Planet cows currently, and we really like them.

Our ideal cows are moderate in size, convert feed efficiently into milk, and are durable and healthy to hopefully stick around for the long haul. In addition, we have started looking more closely at components (fat and protein), which are the portion of the milk we are actually paid for. Thankfully, components also happen to be very “heritable”, meaning that in just a few generations, they can be greatly improved. And if the cows look gorgeous while producing gobs of milk, that’s great, too.

And I’ll say it again, conception matters. The best bull in the world does us no good if we don’t get cows bred. Conception is affected by a lot of things – the cow’s feed and environment play a role along with our breeding techniques, but the semen plays a role, too. For most bulls there is conception data of some sort available, and we intend to take advantage of it. Semen that doesn’t get cows bred is money down the drain.

Every bull doesn’t have to meet all of these criteria; we look at more than numbers. And we do carefully mate, so we know the cow’s strengths play a role, too. That being said, I am very picky when I select bulls. I think I should be. These are our girls, and we have to do what’s best for them and their future daughters. Anything less would be selling our herd, our milk check, and ourselves short.

Follow Jennifer’s story and learn more about decisions made on her dairy farm through her blog, on Twitter (@jmheim33), and on Facebook.

What do you want to Ask a Farmer about Artificial Insemination or Biotechnology in Cattle?

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Biotechnology in Cattle: Artificial Insemination


Over the next few weeks, I’ll be working on several farms as breeding season for our cattle ramps up. As a part of my effort to share more information about biotechnology as it relates to cattle reproduction, this post will address the process we use when breeding cattle. Please leave any questions it may bring to mind in the comments section below or submit a direct message via the contact form on the Ask a Farmer page.

Artificial Insemination (AI) is the most valuable management practice to the cattle producer. The procedure makes efficient use of the generous supply of sperm available from an individual male in a manner that greatly increases genetic progress as well as improving reproductive efficiency in many situations.

Artificial Insemination: The deposition of sperm cells within the female reproductive tract by mechanical or instrumental means for the purpose of breeding.
Biotechnology: biological processes developed in the laboratory and made available in the commercial markets.

AI was the first biotechnology applied to improve reproduction and genetics of farm animals. Reproductive efficiency using AI is at least as good as using natural mating when no diseases are present and good management practices are employed. When certain diseases enter the picture, especially venereal diseases, AI becomes an important factor in their control.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Artificial Insemination

Advantages of AI far outweigh the disadvantages:

  1. Genetic improvement through more accurate evaluation of transmitting ability of males, continued after the death of the male
  2. Use of semen from genetically elite sires increases the accuracy and intensity of selection
  3. Control of venereal or other diseases
  4. Improved record keeping on farms where used
  5. More economical than natural service when genetic merit is considered
  6. Safer by the elimination of dangerous bulls on the farm, especially for the dairy breeds

Disadvantages of AI include the amount of time livestock managers must spend checking females for estrus. Some special facilities for corralling and insemination are required. Trained personnel are required to perform the technique.

Process of Artificial Insemination

  • First the semen is collected from males through artificial insemination methods

  • Technicians make certain the semen contains sperm of sufficient quality and quantity to survive freezing and thawing with enough viable sperm to complete conception
  • Semen is examined in the laboratory for foreign material and quality. Quality is determined by the number of sperm per millimeter of semen, how active sperm are (motility) and the shape of the sperm
  • Semen is preserved by storing it in tanks of liquid nitrogen at a temperature of -320 degrees F or below
  • At the time of insemination the semen containing the sperm is thawed, the technician then injects the semen into the female reproductive tract. This requires a degree of skill.

Artificial Insemination in Different Species

Merck Veterinary Manual gives a good overview of AI and reproductive technologies in many species:

This is an introduction to artificial insemination (AI) in livestock. If you have more specific questions, please leave a comment below or submit a question in the Ask a Farmer tab. Submissions will be used to answer questions in my series on biotechnology.

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Ask a Farmer: Biotechnology and Cattle Reproduction


Cattle Ultrasound Image biotechnology reproduction

Ultrasound image of ~50 day pregnancy in a Holstein cow

Most folks get to share “Peanut” photos of their kids, so I figure it’s only fair I get to share one from our cows

During the month of April, my schedule is jam packed and I’m finding myself on the road nearly every day. It’s breeding season for our cattle in Tennessee and it’s the best learning experience a guy could ask for! I’m ultrasounding for the presence of ovarian structures (signs of estrous activity), synchronizing estrous cycles, using artificial insemination to breed cows, collecting embryos from 15 donor cows, and doing fresh embryo transfer to 75 recipient cows. Then, in another month, I’ll be doing more ultrasound work to determine pregnancy rates. With over 700 cows and heifers to work with, my arms will definitely be sore.

Here’s your chance to learn more, pick my brain, and aid in my study skills.

What questions do you have about biotechnology as it relates to cattle reproduction?

Submit your questions in the comments below or submit a private message through the Ask a Farmer tab. Once my schedule relaxes a bit toward the end of the month, I will do some Q&A posts to share my experiences.

To get you started and give you an idea of what I’m talking about, any of the activities listed above are fair game, and these links should give you some good background reading material.

Get to submitting those questions! I can’t think of a much easier opportunity to ask. Follow along on my Facebook page and Twitter feeds for updates and photos.

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Bull Semen Collection and Ohio Select Sires


Select Sires Logo

This month I checked another state off the list as I traveled to Columbus, Ohio for a work trip. We were there for a “Think Tank” meeting with some of the best reproductive physiologists in the academic world of cattle in the U.S. Along with this meeting we had the opportunity to tour the Select Sires Bull facilities near Plain City.

Select Sires is one of the largest cattle semen collection and distribution companies in the country. This semen is used in breeding programs across the globe for Artificial Insemination in both beef and dairy cattle herds. Most bulls used for semen collection are dairy bulls which produce much more semen than beef bulls on average.

Advantages of Artificial Insemination

Artificial Insemination in cattle has huge advantages in disease control and access to a pool of high-quality genetics. Reproductive diseases are a big concern for affecting semen quality and successful pregnancies in cattle. 6 diseases the bulls are tested for before collection are Brucellosis, Tuberculosis, Leptospirosis, Trichomoniasis, Campylobacteriosis, and Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus. Vaccinations do exist for some of these reproductive diseases, but the best bet for elimination is testing for the diseases and preventing the spread by eliminating infected animals from the herd.

Genetic Selection and Progress

The bulls with a company like Select Sires go through a strenuous testing period starting at a very young age. The first cut for bulls happens at birth based on genetic lines. Do the bull’s genetics fit the direction of the desired traits in breeding herds? From a pool of 100 bulls, only a few may make the final cut for high-volume semen collection. At around 1 year of age bulls are collected for a young sire test. Several cows will be bred to the bulls and their offspring will be used to estimate the genetic value of the bulls. The bulls that graduate in the full program may then be used to collect semen for larger marketing.

At this point bulls may be 4-5 years of age, so time span is obviously a huge obstacle when predicting what genetics will be in demand by breeding herds years down the road. Bull semen companies like Select Sires are beginning to utilize genomic testing to narrow their bull selection pool, selecting bulls with higher genetic value at a younger age. The use of genetic testing is expanding in the industry and increases our ability to make quicker genetic progress.

Not the type of sign you will see everywhere. Driving up to Select Sires Facilities

Semen Collection and Processing

The semen collection process is relatively simple and has been narrowed down to a science by these companies. Bulls are collected with an artificial vagina 2-4 times per week and as many as eight. An average ejaculate may contain 1 billion sperm which are then diluted with an extender (made from a base of whole milk or egg yolk) and stored in 1/2cc straws for freezing. An average Holstein bull can produce 80,000 to 110,000 straws of semen annually. Each year, Select Sires produces 1,962 gallons of processed semen.

Prior to freezing the semen collection is checked for abnormalities of motility (forward movement) and morphology (normal shape, size, formation). A healthy sperm travels 12 feet per hour. In relative size that’s equivalent to a car traveling 37-41 mph.

The semen straws are then stored frozen in liquid nitrogen (-320*F) where metabolic activity of sperm comes to a halt. Select Sires uses over 500,000 gallons of liquid nitrogen annually and can process up to 75,000 straws per day.

Sex-Sorted Semen

I also had the opportunity to tour their facilities where sperm are sorted to produce sexed semen. Sperm carrying X- or Y- chromosomes have a different amount of genetic material and can be sorted to produce male or female semen samples. This is most commonly used in dairy herds looking to produce more heifer calves. The fertility of sexed semen is lower and the cost is higher, so use of sexed semen is not as frequent as non-sorted.

Companies like Select Sires, Genex, ABS, and numerous others  contribute a great deal of information and technology to the cattle industry. Their money contributed to academic research allows us to investigate better management of reproduction in cattle, improving efficiency and genetic progress within herds across the country.

It’s all a pretty cool segment of cattle production, but this comes from a confessed cattle agnerd, so what do I know? Now if I can just get my cows to text me when they’re in heat…

Do you have any questions about semen collection of bulls or use of artificial insemination in cattle?

(Thanks to Select Sires for the numbers and information on semen collection)

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