Transporting Chilled Semen
By: Dr. Cole Sciba
Resident Veterinarian for the Texas Division
The use of transported chilled semen for the insemination of mares has become an industry standard among the breeds allowing it. While commercial farms and veterinary practitioners have by and large become comfortable and capable, there were some initial growing pains. The first chilled semen I received came in a plastic bottle with ice packs wrapped in a towel, the quality was excellent and conception rates reflected this. I also received semen in a thermos bottle with ice cubes in it. All dead. A client received from a well known Mexican horse trainer, semen in a minnow bucket with ice packs. The outside was labeled “Mexican Equitainer”. The semen was excellent.
While the science of breeding mares with cooled semen has been smoothed out, the art will always keep it interesting. Most people tend to forget that being able to call someone in rural North America and order something being carried around by a stallion, that he’s many times unwilling to part with, have it delivered that day or the next to somewhere else in rural North America in time to match, not too early or not too late, your mare, is truly amazing.
I have more than once been pleasantly surprised to find a mare ready to breed on day one of the season to the hottest young sire recently out of the arena or off the track, only to find he hadn’t figured out his new job yet. I have ordered semen from a Warmblood in February only to be told snow covered their trailer and to call back in April or May. Another farm was unable to ship because a drunk driver crashed thru the barn and hit the phantom while the stallion was on it. No one was hurt, but the stallion wouldn’t get back on the phantom in time to ship to me. Spring storms in Atlanta, the hub of Federal Express, trap many samples there for an extra day or two. Then again Dr. Sciba had a new lost, harried Fed Ex driver show up about 8 p.m. only to find he’d lost the keys to the back of the truck and had to drive back to Fort Worth to get another set.
We have shipped semen to Moose Jaw Saskatchewan with an airline I won’t name except to say it starts with North and ends with West, two days in a row only to have it end up in Moose Jaw Minnesota, twice. A farm I work with shipped semen on a mare 8 breeding days in a row and finally called about ovulation status the owners reply? “What’s ovulation”? Most farms and veterinarians now ship properly prepared quality products to their customers. It’s good business. It’s also good business to evaluate it on arrival as occasionally things happen affecting sperm viability.
As a shipper, I like to know, but be reasonable. One farm had a lady call to complain about dead semen. She put it in the refrigerator for 1 month before having it evaluated. Finally, the best way to insure your mare gets in foal is to, after receiving, evaluating, and breeding your mare, call the farm, the stallion owner, and their veterinarian. Tell them all the spermatozoa were dead. Question their ethics, morals, qualifications and parentage. Make an absolute ass of yourself. Your mare will be in foal and it makes our month when you call back to report her in foal and ask for your breeders certificate. (You know who you are).
