Good work there, but you didn't mention the temperature at which you thawed the semen, also is it in all cases you thaw for 45 secs? How about we in the tropical environment? Do you thaw sexed semen and conventional semen at 45secs?
Hello, I am a final year vet student and I am doing my thesis work on lameness detection in dairy cows. I would like to ask you if I can use some short sequences of your video to include it in a survey intended for dairy farmers. I would really appreciate it, Thanks a million for your answer.
My procedure is as follows -- 1. Make sure the cow is somewhere I can get to her easily. She needs to either be an extremely tame cow, or she needs to be confined in a small pen with chute access. Even tame cows can act unpredictably during breeding. If you enter a cow with the left arm, and she abruptly pivots to the left, an injured arm or elbow is a very real possibility! 2. Fill a thermos with 95 degree water from the milk room tap. I keep two thermometers handy. That way if I drop one, I can quickly compare it against its mate to determine if it's out of calibration. 3. Retrieve the straw from the tank, and put it in the thaw water. 4. Quickly warm a gun with a cloth udder towel, and stick it down the front of my pants waistband. I may have over or under warmed the gun. By sticking it in my waistband for a minute, it evens out the temperature so there's no hot or cold spots. 5. Stick the sheath in my waistband as well. 6. Write down the necessary breeding info. It's better to do this now, instead of forgetting to do it later. You should always record a breeding attempt, even if it wasn't successful. 7. By now, a minute has passed. Pull the straw from the thaw water, load the gun, snip off the end, install the sheath, and slip it back inside my pants. I don't bother to wrap the gun tip. Personal hygiene is important for this! For the best temperature control, get the gun tip as near the crotch as possible. 8. Stuff the towel in my pocket, put a glove on, and get a dollop of lube in the palm of that hand. 9. Push the cow into the chute if needed. I have a few minutes to do this, since the semen is being kept at body temperature under several layers of clothing. 10. Smear the lube around the butthole, reach inside the rectum with my gloved hand, grasp the cervix, and push it forward to straighten the vagina. 11. Wipe the vulva clean with the towel, taking care not to push anything inside. 12. Lay the gun against the vulva, and press it in sideways. Don't poke it straight in, since that can force contamination into the gun tip. 13. Cradle the cervix, and manipulate it over the gun, until the gun is 1/2 to 1 inch past the cervix. 14. Slowly deposit the semen, over about five seconds. 15. Exit the cow, and examine the sheathed gun for semen feedback due to a poor seal. 16. Fold the tip of the sheath and straw over, and pull the sheath off the gun with the gloved hand. 17. With the clean hand, remove the heat detection patch from the cow's rump. 18. Remove the glove, encasing the sheath, straw, and patch inside the glove. 19. Release the cow. 20. Discard the glove, and toss the towel in the laundry. Hose the towel off first if it has gross contamination.
I find that a really slow pack (say, low range 2nd gear) works a lot better than multiple packings at a higher speed..slow is the way to go..at higher speeds, it fluffs up right behind you
