Timing of AI is crucial, especially with the increase in use of sexed semen. Last year, sexed semen surged to account for over 20% of all serves on Irish farms. It’s a significant investment as well, with sexed semen costing on average 50% more than conventional AI straws. Use it incorrectly, and it can have a big effect on your reproductive management during the breeding season.
The advantages of sexed semen
Getting the most out of your investment
With sexed semen having a bigger financial outlay, it’s critical to get the conditions right at breeding time. Timing and selecting the right cow are two of the biggest factors influencing its success. If a cow has no prior history of reproductive issues, has cycled during the voluntary waiting period, and is in good body condition, she is a suitable candidate for sexed semen. Each farm may add in other genetic factors to their selection criteria too.
Why is timing so important?
Timing, on the other hand, can be a little bit trickier. When using sexed semen, it’s recommended to serve cows later than the norm. This is due to how the sex sorting process affects the sperm. When semen is sex sorted, the decapitation process is started, which means that it has a shorter fertile period in the cow’s reproductive tract once she’s served. So, when you’re serving your cow with sexed semen you need to be as close as possible to ovulation. Ovulation generally occurs around 30 hours after a cow begins exhibiting signs of standing heat.
To get the most out of your sexed semen, you need to serve the cow between 14-22 hours after the start of standing heat. Knowing when standing heat started is key. No one has tome to observe their cows to such an extent that they know exactly when her heat started. Which is where activity monitors such as Nedap come into their own.
How can technology help?
Continual activity monitoring firstly forms a picture of each cow’s reproductive activity. This helps with selecting the right cow. During the pre-breeding season, Nedap can generate custom reports, highlighting cows that have not cycled, or are having abnormal cycles. It saves farmers time by homing in on problem cows and makes it easier to decide on a breeding plan for those cows.
Nedap’s activity monitors also have a unique feature that highlights the best time to AI that cow. The Optimal Insemination Moment highlights when a cow is in the ideal window for insemination. Cows can be flagged on the system as eligible for sexed semen too; so, when it comes to time to serve cows, it’s very clear which are the optimal cows for sexed semen.
If you’d like improve your reproductive efficiency, and learn more about getting the most from your semen investment, contact one of Nedap’s partners here.
