AI with miniatures and Overseas

[Margaret]

I have someone overseas asking about the possibility of shipping frozen semen to Europe.

Although this practice is known to be successful, and commonly done with the larger breeds of horses, I have not heard it done yet with the miniature breed.

I see some miniature ads saying that they ship frozen semen, but even then it seems like it is not commonly done even across the states.

So does anyone know about the success rate with AI with miniatures and shipping semen overseas, and if it has ever been done?

Thanks for any input.

Mary

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

With proper management on both the parts of the stallion owner and the mare owner, the success should be only slightly less than the same with a full sized horse. Not all miniatures freeze well though, but many do. It is, however, very expensive and time consuming to prepare export quality semen, so make sure you have a good contract and enough doses sold to make it worth while. Plan on several weeks in quarentine at an export qualified breeding farm to prepare the samples, plus $600 or so per collection/freeze.

 

[Littleum]

Nathan gave good advice.

It's also standard operating procedure NOT to offer an LFG with frozen.

Preparing semen for export is expensive and time consuming. Unless they're planning on ordering a big batch, it's not worth it. They might not be aware that there are actually tons of regulations.

 

[Margaret]

Thanks for the Information...

I am actually not as optimistic about the procedure as the inquirer is..

She is accustomed to doing this with the Paso Fino breed, and she figured it would be the same with miniatures.

We will probably look into different options, as this one seems like unchartered territory thus far.

Thanks again. Mary

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

DEFINATELY offer a LFG if you are selling frozen semen from a proven stallion, and have some fertility information on it. If you have no information regarding fertility, then hold off on the LFG.

This is part of why frozen semen has such a bad reputation.

 

[Littleum]

DEFINATELY offer a LFG if you are selling frozen semen from a proven stallion, and have some fertility information on it. If you have no information regarding fertility, then hold off on the LFG.
This is part of why frozen semen has such a bad reputation.

Meh, frozen's reputation isn't as bad as it was. Technology and experience had done wonders! But it's just as common as not NOT to offer an LFG anyway, or to offer an LFG at an additional cost (or to offer an option to switch to a stallion avaliable fresh) And then there's the added complication of "dodgy batches"- stallions that don't freeze well using one method but using another are acceptable.

OP, international frozen is pretty common in a lot of breeds, so many breeders already have the stuff frozen for export and the mare owner never has to actually get involved in the nitty gritty. They just order it from the broker or station and it shows up on time. She might not be aware that there's a whole TON of red tape on the stallion owner's end.

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

There is no reason why frozen semen can't be sold and treated just like fresh or cooled semen, as far as the mare owner is concerned. Its one of the big things that the major producers of frozen semen (services that produce it, not the stallion's owners) are trying to push as a method of boosting frozen semen's use and utility. One of the things we're trying to change is to encourage people to offer very similar contracts for frozen... to sell by the breeding, rather than the straw, and to sell with a LFG. IMHO you shouldn't be selling semen that you know is inferior

Not only are you giving the modality a poor reputation, you are severely hurting yourself and your stallion. If you have poor quality collections, it needs to be compensated for in terms of a larger dose, or worst case, destruction of the poor doses. Of course, the exception is an unproven stallion with no frozen fertility data, in which case the price should reflect that, or if the stallion is high-dollar, high demand, with private test breedings to evaluate the fertility.

As an FYI for people that aren't familier with frozen semen, not all stallions can handle the freezing process. In addition, there are a large variety of chemicals used to protect the semen, and some horses work much better with some recipies and some work horriblely. So you can have a VERY fertile stallion that just does not freeze well, and you can have a very good freezing stallion do poorly with some techniques. Moral of the story is it is very important to have fertility data on a stallion's frozen semen, down to the type of extender used and the technique. Just because he NOW freezes very well doesn't mean that all doses are as good as others.

 

[Bess Kelly]

Nathan, since you are involved in this area of "business"

......... what is normally done?

Hmmm.....relative to testing frozen methods. Do they collect and freeze/thaw via several usually proven methods to see what "works best" for that animal? Are there things you look for in the collection sample that tends to work with one method better than another, i.e. quantity, motility, consistancy of actual fluids, etc.

Yep, I'm waiting for "collection/freezing/testing 101"

thanks.

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

That's exactly what is done. The first time you freeze a stallion you do what's called a "test freeze", which is very similar to a test cool for cooled/shipped semen. The stallion's ejaculate is split and frozen several different ways, using different techniques and different semen extenders (the fluid added to the semen to help it survive the process). After the freeze is done, a few straws of each group are thawed and evaluated. The best method is used from then on, unless a problem developes or there is another reason to redo the test freeze.

Every time you freeze an ejaculate a few straws should be thawed, cultured, and evaluated, to give an idea of the expected quality of each ejaculate. They are not all the same. Some companies actually vary the dose based on that paticular ejaculate's post thaw motility.

As far as WHAT a freeze entails, it basically goes like this.

1) Collect semen using normal AI techniques.

2) Evaluate semen using normal fresh and cooled techniques. Also culture sample for bacteria.

3) Remove seminal plasma (the fluid of the semen, leaving behind the sperm cells)

4) Count the number of cells and dilute using semen extender

5) Package into straws, and culture for bacteria

6) Cool straws to 0 degrees C

7) Cool straws to -192 degrees C

8) Package straws into canes and store in liquid nitrogen

9) Thaw a few straws, evaluate motility and culture for bacteria.

The process takes between and hour and two from start to finish, depending on the equipment you have. Last time I did a freeze I was using about $100,000 worth of equipment, which of course makes things a lot easier and a lot more percise.

 

[Bess Kelly]

Thanks, Nathan. Just like to keep up with what's happening.

Some info came with the collection equipment I bought several years back but, never got into that. Our collections were for own stallions, for purposes of testing/evaluating their sperm each year....or for such on stallions being sold/purchased, etc.