Semen longevity once thawed?

jenna · #1 08/20/14, 11:23 PM

HI!! I have a question on the longevity of frozen semen. To be more specific, I was wondering how long after its thawed its ok before you get it in the cow? Here's the reason I ask. I normally have started to AI all my girls myself, but I wanted to use a sexed semen on one of my jersey heifers. I dont have the right gun for it, but my dairy farm neighbor girl (Beth) does. She also had a straw of the bull I wanted to use, so I asked her if she would just breed my cow since she had all the stuff anyway and she has bred her herd for many years successfully. She was glad to. So this morning I noticed my jersey (Heidi) in standing heat. I called my neighbor girl and she said she'd be over this evening to AI her around 6. I wasnt exactly sure how she was going to do it, but I figured shed bring her semen tank over here and get everything ready. At about 6 I haltered Heidi and we waited. Pretty soon Beth came walking over from her farm. She already had a lubed AI glove on and the gun loaded with the semen. She had thawed and loaded the semen and everything at her place- She lives pretty much next door. We talked for a little while and then she went ahead and started AI'ing Heidi. Now I'm pretty sure this time-frame was OK for the semen, but just thought I'd ask. (I was thinking in class they said something like you have a max of 10 min once thawed maybe??) I'm guessing from the time she thawed it to when she had her arm and the gun in the cow was like 7 minutes max maybe, And 3-4 for the actual AI'ing part. I dont doubt her at all as she is very successful at her dairy and she did a great job breeding Heidi, but just curious! OH and she did have the AI gun down her shirt the whole time until she inserted it into the cow too...
Thanks so much!!

idigbeets · #2 08/21/14, 05:23 AM

That should be fine...

sammyd · #3 08/22/14, 07:15 AM

I wouldn't worry too much about it.

DaleK · #4 08/22/14, 08:50 AM

No problem. My AI guy used to thaw 3-4 doses at a time on days when we had 10 or more to breed, 20 minutes was fine

Bret · #5 08/22/14, 09:25 AM

Before I had a tank, I needed to breed a cow and my mentor sold a straw to me from his tank that was ten minutes away. I thawed and loaded the straw in my gun, stuck it in my shirt and headed back to the ranch, where I already had the cow in the chute. I did not have much skill and practice. No one was more surprised then me when the cow settled.

We always joke about what we would say if we were stopped and asked what was in our shirt.

willow_girl · #6 08/23/14, 08:28 AM

You can add my vote to to the "OK" column.

My boss said he bred a friend's beef heifer remotely once, only in his case, he dropped the straw into a cup of ice water and defrosted it when he got to the friend's house. That's what I plan to do when it's time to breed Marianne, since the farm where I work is about 20 minutes from home, but if it were less than that, I'd just load the gun and keep it warm.

jenna · #7 08/23/14, 10:14 PM

Thanks so much for the replies! I was pretty sure we were ok, but you guys have made me confident! We were planning on breeding her twice with the sexed semen, but we felt we were pretty good on timing. The heifer had tons of mucus while Beth was breeding her. So well cross our fingers on this one straw.

"We always joke about what we would say if we were stopped and asked what was in our shirt."

I had to laugh at this, I did wonder what non-farm people thought when they saw Beth walking over to my farm with a shoulder length orange AI glove on and the "gun" down her shirt LOL!!