Getting started in AI

togg75 · #1 07/13/14, 08:29 AM

Ok so I am not ready to start using AI on my herd, but I am ready to start looking for a tank, equipment, and semen. I have very limited knowledge. I have done some research... Enough to know there are different sized guns and not know which is more prevalent.

Any way i thought I would get a discussion started. Thanks for any resources you can direct me too or options about items, equipment, etc. oh and can someone give me some idea about cost of maintaining a tank?

SJSFarm · #2 07/13/14, 11:28 AM

My vet has recently taken training in AI and is now offering this service.

Perhaps you can check with the vets in the area and see if any offer as well.

Frosted Mini's · #3 07/13/14, 02:29 PM

Maintenance costs for a tank depends a lot on your area. Around here is a lot of cow diaries and i can gt m tank filled for a flat rate of $25
It usually hes done about every 3-4 months and sometimes they're are on a route ourhere and can deliver the nitrogen at my house. Otherwise it is a1/2 hour away. Doing ai is really not that difficult a procedure. It's all about timing to get the doe to settle. I would suggest finding a class to get started but you can easily learn from a booklet etc. Even better would be to find someone near you who does ai that can help you.

**mygoat** · #4 07/13/14, 07:33 PM

I have a 20 litre tank and I get it filled every 4 months or so. It costs me 46.00. You just need to fill when you're down to 10cm of LN2.

I got my semen tank here. I have the first one, the XC20. http://www.goodecattle.com/tanks.htm

I have the most extensive AI kit that BioGenics offers. The one for 185.00. I like it. http://www.biogenicsltd.com/kits.html

I synchronise my does with CIDRs and PG600, which are hormone drugs. My duedates must be exact to fit in my schedule, though. Many people are more sucessfull AI'ing on a natural heat.

togg75 · #5 07/14/14, 08:16 AM

I hadn't thought of the vet route. I don't know that my vet us interested in doing such a thing but it is interesting. Thanks for the information.

**mygoat** · #6 07/14/14, 10:09 AM

Most vets don't know much about goats. I had to explain to him that goats are done trans-cevically - which is different from both sheep and cows. If you have a vet who is good about goats, then maybe that would work. It would cost a lot more. And it's not hard to do.

Frosted Mini's · #7 07/14/14, 11:16 AM

I thought cows were trans-cervical too?? They just aren't done using a speculum...they are done blindly with one hand in the rectum and one hand guiding the gun.

**mygoat** · #8 07/14/14, 01:47 PM

Cows are done by penetrating the cervix fully and depositing the semen in the uterine body - I think it's called post cervical. Goats should be done trans-cervically. You penetrate the first couple rings of the cervix and deposit the semen there, without advancing all the way through into the uterine body (higher rate of infection).

Frosted Mini's · #9 07/14/14, 03:34 PM

I wonder why the difference? Sorry if I am derailing your post, togg. Are goats just more prone to infection than cattle? I have accidentally penetrated all rings (friend's saanen goat was like the lincoln tunnel lol), with no ill effects and the doe settled. It was my understanding that it's fine to do that, just not necessary.

**mygoat** · #10 07/14/14, 05:07 PM

Penetrating into the uterine body is higher risk of infection than not, and I think studies showed the success rate the same or even higher for placing semen mid cervix. I think in cows its easier to place semen in the uterine body vs the horns of the uterus. If a doe let down one or two eggs both in the same horn, but you put the semen in the OTHER horn by accident... she would have almost no chance of settling. The uterus is a bit bigger in a cow and you can feel the cervix and can position the gun RIGHT after the cervix. On a goat, it is kinda a guess.

togg75 · #11 07/14/14, 05:07 PM

No worries. It is a general AI thread...

I also wonder what are the different gun types. Do all straws fit into either gun style?

**mygoat** · #12 07/14/14, 05:11 PM

All straws should fit, but sheaths will be different - the piece that slips over the gun and holds the straw in place. I haven't been doing this long enough to be discerning.

I like the one I have, I feel like it works just fine, lol.

Frosted Mini's · #13 07/14/14, 06:08 PM

I have a french gun, i guess. It seems to work fine. Biogenics sells one called hi-bred...not sure what that is like. A lot of people like the continental gun-I couldn't figure it out...just used to the other style. There is one called french needle gun that uses little needles...think they stopped making the needles for that, so don't get that one. I think the gun style is mostly personal preference and what you learned with. They should all fit regular semen straws. There is some really really old semen packaged in ampules which are thawed in ice water...no idea how you get those into the doe, but now and then people still get does to settle with that.

**mygoat** · #14 07/14/14, 06:29 PM

I have the HI-Bred gun, should ahve clarified.

The french sheaths have narrow ends which allow further/easier penetration of cervix. The ones with true needles are for surgical AI (usually used for sheep, but goats can be done that way with a vet... no reason to, in goats, as trans-cervical is less invasive and pretty sucessfull. Sheep are near impossible to settle the way goats are bred.)