Top stock used for A.I.

Press, 25 September 1987, Page 15

Top stock used for A.I.

Some of the best breeding stock in New Zealand is kept on a small block of land just south of Kaiapoi. The group of low-lying, inconspicuous buildings there houses Ambreed New Zealand, the main artificial insemination centre in the South Island. Only the top one per cent of New Zealand’s farm animals are selected by Ambreed for inclusion in its catalogues of available semen, said the company’s production manager, Mr lan MacDonald.

The animals which meet Ambreed’s standards are often leased and kept on the Kaiapoi property.

Ambreed is also the only place in the South Island which offers custom collection. Farmers are able to send their best animals to the centre for the collection and storage of semen.

Although dairy farmers have been able to enjoy the benefits of A.I. for many years, extending the service to cover other types of animals is a new innovation.

Goat semen, for fibre, milking and meat breeds, had its first commercial year in the 1986-87 season. Limited amounts had been available before then.

Sheep semen was available last year in limited commercial quantities and a greater range will be offered next year.

By .

JOHN HARFORD

Stag semen is expected -to be available from autumn 1988 and the centre at Kaiapoi has even handled a small amount of dog semen. The dairy industry has always been the mainstay of A.I. and probably would always remain so, said Mr MacDonald.

As well as being one of several sources for semen and the only South Island collection centre, Ambreed offers to teach farmers how to artificially inseminate their own stock.

Bovine schools have been run for 16 years and the more recent caprine schools for goat breeding have proved popular. It had been thought that 20 to 30 people might have been interested in the caprine schools but between 200 and 300 have so far been taught. Ovine schools for sheep breeders will start this season.

The schools run for several days and cover the physiology and anatomy of the animals. Farmers are taught how to bring all the animals they wish to inseminate into heat at the same time and the correct way to use the equipment for intra-cervi-cal insemination.

Farmers using A.I. are able to bring to their herds and flocks, the most suitable genetic lines for their requirements. Not only do they have access to animals from all over New Zealand but they can also use top-line animals from overseas. Ambreed has a sub-company called Intergene to import semen.

Artificial insemination, on occasions, can even be cheaper than buying a bull to do the work itself, said Mr MacDonald. Although conception rates are lower tor A.I. than natural means, one male is able to service many more females. A mature bull could be expected to provide 70,000 straws a year, 10,000 a year for a ram, and a buck would produce about 7000 inseminal doses a year.

A straw is the thin, hollow tube in which semen is stored and inserted into females. Much of the research and technology in developing systems for storing semen is on ensuring enough sperm are put into the straws to give a good chance of conception.

Intra-cervical insemination for goats has about a 60 per cent conception rate and laprascopic insemination has a 70 per

cent rate. The use of a laprascope is semi-surgi-cal and requires much more experience than in-tra-cervical insemination. It is also more stressful on the animals.

The conception rate for cows is about 67 per cent using intra-cervical insemination.

Once collected, the semen is mixed in a solution, inserted into straws, and frozen in liquid nitrogen. It takes about four hours to process the semen after collection before it is frozen. Once frozen, the semen will keep indefinitely. Future developments in A.I. are likely to concentrate on improving conception rates and introducing new species of animals. Research is also being done on the ability to sex semen so that breeders would be able to select male or female progeny before insemination. No-one knows when such a service would be available.

“The breakthrough could come within days or years,” said Mr MacDonald.

The breeding centre was first established by Mr Rowan McDonald and was then taken over by Guthreys. Elders were the next owners of the centre and Ambreed, which has its head office in Cambridge, became the owners in February this year.