Breeding using artificial insemination. - Page 1

Chilled Sperm, frozen sperm or fresh sperm-does it make a difference? Experience appreciated. Have concerns that my young female first timer might not mate. Flying with her to San Diego for breeding. Fertility clinic nearby. Anyone have any experience with any of these methods. Could just stay home and have the frozen sperm sent but hear that fresh is better and maybe she will even cooperate on her own. Just in case she sits doen on the job, we want to be prepared. Looking for advice.

 

Instead of flying use that money to have the Cryo bank ship you cooled semen if you have a good repo vet on your end.

Frozen will work, usually you have fewer swimmers with a much shorther life span.

Shipped cooled does quite well, again if you have a good vet to use.

I have done 3 VERY successful with fresh chilled shipped to me. I have also had 1 that didn't take, but my vet said the sperm was not good quality when he got it and had his doubts. I would go the surgical implant if it were me. Need a good repo vet on your end that also has progesterone testing results back quickly. Wish you much success!!

I have used all 3 methods as a stud provider and a consumer. Natural with progesterone testing is the absolute best. Fresh where the male is collected and put directly in the female through the cervix is OK.

Chilled and frozen are problematic. There are many variables involved. Collecting, processing, freezing or chilling, shipping, receiving, preparation, insemination from the male side and you really have to know where your female is in her cycle. 99% of the time, something goes wrong. It can be anything. Once missed a shipment because the cooler wouldn't fit into the FedEx drop box. When it comes to chilled/frozen, my advice, just say no. The odds are against you and the few I did produce died before one year old.

Why did they die?

I know we can only speak from our own experiences. I do prefer natural breedings when possible!! But instead of traveling across country I would do surgical implants first. I have had better success from fresh chilled shipped and surgically implanted than fresh collections and put through the cervix (AI side by side). First fresh chilled produced 12 puppies, all lived and did well. Second produced 8 or 9 I can not remember if I lost one at birth, but she did raise 8. The last just under 9 months ago produced 5 puppies. Each experience will be different no matter what. It is ALL just how the cards fall. IMO

My long time vet that I totally admired did not feel that frozen semen puppies had good long term health as in natural breedings; unfortunately through the years this has proven itself to be true. Cannot explain it except that possibly something is lost during freezing time and semen is just not as healthy.?? Only time will tell us our answers. Why can you NOT try a natural and if that does not happen presume she may not be ready then to fresh catch AI. That would be my recommendation. I would also do progest test prior to leaving your home. See where you are at with that, possibly you have already missed "her". Best of luck Nan

If this is a maiden bitch, I would do frozen/chilled for the first time. I want to know my bitches can breed naturally.

I just did a surgical insemination on my bitch, and it was costly, the semen quality was poor, and I won't find out for another week if my bitch even took. I'm not hopeful, even though she's very fertile and we were right on with timing.

Frozen semen only has a 12 hour life span once thawed.

If you're flying to the stud with your bitch then definitely try natural/live cover breeding first. If for some reason she absolutely won't breed, I would get her examined. Sometimes females have strictures or other issues that may be considered minor and still OK for breeding but may need AI. You have to decide what issues (temperament or physical) are OK and what render the female not breedworthy. I have a male that has been used for stud a few times (has produced puppies both with live cover and multiple times with fresh chilled semen shipped overnight) and the last maiden female that came to us could not get bred so we took her to my repro vet who said she was very narrow inside and likely would not tie, but if she got pregnant via AI, the birth would make it easier for her to breed naturally after that. Since she had no temperament issues standing for breeding, we did two side-by-side AI (repro vet collects and immediately inserts, non surgical). When my male is used for AI the repro vet on my end always checks the semen first and makes sure it's good enough quality to be used. He's almost 8 years old and his quality is usually 75-85% with an excellent count and sometimes actually improves on the other end because the extender can help some of the sperm that have motility issues (I believe is how he explained it to me). I would not expect the owner of the bitch to pay the expense of having semen shipped and then implanted if my male was not providing a good quality collection. IMO, live breeding is always best but our country being the size that it is, is not always practical when the breeder lives 20+ hours away.