How to Artificially Inseminate Cows and Heifers

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Artificial Insemination (AI) is the second-most common practice of breeding livestock--well, it's the only alternative to breeding livestock next to natural breeding using a male over females. AI is, however, much more common in dairy production than in beef production, though AI is gaining ground in beef breeding herds due to the increased access and marketing of superior and favourable proven sires. Knowing how to AI cattle is important in order to achieve a high success rate in cattle breeding herds where owning a herd bull is not profitable nor recommended.

The following steps are a reasonably detailed article of what is involved in AI'ing cattle. In order to fully understand how AI is done and to even gain certification for being able to AI livestock, visit a bull semen marketing company like Semex, Genex, Select Sires, or any other bull-semen dispersal company. Check to see if they host any programs for AI certification or becoming a certified AI tech that you can attend to learn more about artificial insemination.This is helpful if you have not yet got a bull to help you breed.

Please also consider using an experienced certified AI tech to AI your cows. These people are better to use than training yourself to do it.

Method 1
Method 1 of 3:

Watch the Females, then Get them In

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  1. Watch your cows and/or heifers for signs of estrus . Females go into heat once every ~21 days, and the heat periods themselves last for 24 hours. [1]
  2. This time period is when the female ovulates, sending an ovum out to the fallopian tube to await fertilization from sperm from a bull. [2]
  3. Calmly, with proper handling practices put the heifers or cows in to the working alley to the squeeze chute (or alleyway with just a head gate is good enough), and catch the first female in the head gate. If there are others behind her, make sure they are back behind another gate to prevent them from squishing you when they try to move up further in the race. If you have a squeeze chute with a palpation cage attached to it, use this as a means to do your AI'ing. Some barns are set up so that each cow is in a stanchion or head-catch lined up beside one another. This is very convenient for the AI tech who has to AI over 50 cows in one day!
    • If doing AI outside, it is best to do it on sunny warm days, not when the weather is rainy or windy or even stormy. If you have a facility that is set up inside a shed or barn, so much the better!
Method 2
Method 2 of 3:

Preparations Prior to Insemination

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  1. Use a thermometer for better accuracy.
  2. A semen inventory on the tank that keeps track of the location of each bull prevents any unnecessary searching.
  3. Lift the canister just high enough into the neck region of the tank to grasp the desired cane of semen. Keep the tops of the canister or canes no higher than the frost line, or two to three inches from the top of the tank.
  4. Keep the cane as low inside the tank as possible while removing the straw of semen with tweezers.
    • You only have 10 seconds to take the semen straws out!!!
  5. Shake the straw to remove excess liquid nitrogen (nitrogen quickly goes into a gaseous state when exposed to air and warmer temperatures)
  6. [3]
    • The warm water should be around 95ºF (35ºC) for optimum thawing of the semen straws.
  7. After the straw is put in to the warm water, put the can back in the canister by raising the canister up and over the cane and return the canister to its storage position. [4]
    • Anytime it takes over 10 seconds to locate a cane the canister must be lowered back into the tank to cool completely. Never return a unit of semen to the tank once you've removed it from the cane.
  8. If it's cold outside, warm the "business end" of the gun up in your coveralls close to your body so it warms up completely. Rubbing a paper towel on the rod also helps warm it up. If it's hot outside, keep it in a cool place. The AI gun should not be extremely hot nor cold to the touch.
  9. It should be completely dry before you do anything else with it. Flick your wrist slightly, while holding the crimped end, to adjust the air bubble in the straw. The flick should move the bubble to the end you are holding
  10. Clip 1/2" (or 1 cm) from the crimped end of the straw. Use sharp scissors or specially designed straw-cutter scissors should be used, and cut in the area that the air bubble is located.
  11. Wrap the AI gun in a clean dry paper towel or protective sheath and tuck it in your clothing close to your body to both transport it to the cow and to maintain a constant temperature.
Method 3
Method 3 of 3:

Artificially Inseminating the Female Bovine

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  1. Raise the tail with one hand (preferably the right) and with the other (which should be gloved and lubricated), gently reach inside the cow to clean out any feces that may interfere with the process of feeling for and inserting the AI gun into the cow's vagina.
  3. This is so that you avoid going into the urethral opening into the bladder.
  4. With your left hand in the rectum of the cow (which should have been there to begin with), feel with your finger tips through the wall of the rectum and vagina the location of the end of the AI gun until you reach the cervix. [5]
  5. Grasp the cervix with the hand in the rectum of the cow (like you would hold a bar that is below your hand) and hold it steady while you thread the rod into and through the cow's cervix.
  6. The rod should be only 1/2 to 1/4 of an inch into the uterus. [6]
  8. Recheck the location of the semen to make sure you are in the cow's uterus and not in any of her "blind spots" (see tips below), and deposit the other half of the straw's contents.
  9. Check for any blood, infection or semen "feedback" from inside the sheath.


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  • Question
    What is artificial insemination in cattle, in simple terms?
    Community Answer
    Artificial insemination, as noted by the article above, is impregnating cattle with bull semen minus the bull. Semen collected from the bull is frozen then unfrozen and put into the cow as described above. It eliminates the risk of having a dangerous bull around, the extra feed and space needed to keep a bull, as well as the costs of fence repair if the bull should escape because he smells some other cows in heat a mile away that need his attention.
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  • Question
    At what temperature can the semen be preserved and what chemical should be used to preserve it before insemination?
    Community Answer
    Before the insemination the semen can be preserved in liquid nitrogen at -196ºC.
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  • Question
    Why do I need to put the straw containing semen into the warm water?
    Karin
    Top Answerer
    To thaw out the semen. When the semen comes out of the tank, it's frozen, and needs to be warmed to above room temperature so it's not so cold when it goes into the uterus of the cow, and so it "wakes up" the sperm in the semen sample so they can start moving and wiggling to the ovum as soon as they're put in the uterus. Thawed semen is also much easier to inject into the uterus than frozen.
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      Warnings

      • Low conception rates are common in cows done by inexperienced technicians.
        Thanks
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      • Beware of those blind spots mentioned above in Tips
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      • Never artificially inseminate cows yourself unless you are very experienced and have the necessary training.
        Thanks
        Helpful 6 Not Helpful 1
      • AI is actually a lot harder than it sounds. A lot of errors can be made in the location of the pipette (or rod or AI gun) in the cow's uterine tract, because often the location of the pipette is easily moved, and it is impossible to check pipette placement.
        Thanks
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      Things You'll Need

      • AI tank with canisters and canes inside
      • Liquid nitrogen
      • Straws with desired semen
      • AI gun
      • Paper towels
      • Straw-cutter scissors
      • Thermos (preferably wide-mouthed one)
      • OB lubricant
      • Shoulder-length gloves
      • Tweezers
      • Thick gloves

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      References

      1. ↑ https://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/embryology/index.php/Bovine_Development#Bovine_Estrous_Cycle
      2. ↑ http://www.selectsires.com/resources/fertilitydocs/heat_detection_timing.pdf?version=20180803
      3. ↑ https://extension.psu.edu/storing-and-handling-frozen-semen
      4. ↑ http://www.thecattlesite.com/articles/721/artificial-insemination-for-beef-cattle/
      5. ↑ https://www.fwi.co.uk/livestock/livestock-breeding/8-step-guide-artificially-inseminating-dairy-cow
      6. ↑ https://www.fwi.co.uk/livestock/livestock-breeding/8-step-guide-artificially-inseminating-dairy-cow
      7. http://agritech.tnau.ac.in/animal_husbandry/animhus_cattle_AI.html

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