Aritificial Insemination and Embryonic Transfer

jode · #1 02/19/08, 10:00 AM

Howdy all, we just got some longhorn heifers yesterday to keep our little brown swiss company. I have access to some young bulls who are fairly tame, but we are not sure we want them around anyway. Does anyone have any idea how much vets charge to perform AI or, even better, embryonic transplants? It would be kinda cool to have some little longhorns running around with championship bloodlines if it didn't cost a fortune. Or, alternatively, even if the embryonic thing is too expensive, at least to have the option of keeping only heifers/steers (no bulls) and still be able to have little babies/milk refreshing.

Teacupliz · #2 02/19/08, 03:45 PM

where are you at there is Genex, Select Sires and ABS-
The charge is usually $10.-$20 to stop and the semen- our vets do not do AI.
Liz
PS all of the above have web sites-

jode · #3 02/19/08, 04:35 PM

I'm not sure if you were asking or telling, but just in case you were asking, I live just NE of Dallas. So, you are saying that the vet will charge $10-$20 or so to visit our farm and with that price, plus the price of the semen, we have a done deal? That is DEFINITELY cheaper than keeping a bull around.

Thanks for the links.

haypoint · #4 02/20/08, 12:52 AM

If you can locate Genex, Select Sires and ABS, they should have someone that can do it for you. I'd strongly suggest you learn AI yourself. Not that hard and a lot easier than getting someone out to ther farm at the right time. Emb. transplant is a lot more difficult and you may have to haul cows a ways to get it done. Around here, cattle farmers haul 600 miles round trip to a Vet that has a very good sucess rate, no one local can do it.

jode · #5 02/20/08, 08:33 AM

Actually, I checked Genex and they have limited availability in longhorn semen. I did however do a search for longhorn semen and ran into quite a few local operations that look like they could do it and that have semen from hundreds of bulls to choose from. So it looks like getting the semen is no big deal, it looks like my real concern is going to be getting the vet out for a reasonable price.

I did read a DIY on AI and I guess there is a possibility that I could do it. The real question is if it is worth it for me to monkey around with valuable semen and possibly miss the timing to save a few bucks. It might be more valuable to just pay someone with all the equip to come out. If I were a bigger operator who could afford the equip/training, it would be a no-brainer to do it inhouse I would think.