Q&A for How to Artificially Inseminate Cows and Heifers

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.

Before the insemination the semen can be preserved in liquid nitrogen at -196ºC.

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.

Bulls--dangerous or not--are confined to a squeeze chute with a head gate to lock their heads in. The rear is accessible via an access gate behind the squeeze so that the probe can be inserted in the anus and electrical stimulation causes ejaculation. Be mindful that any bull can be dangerous, even the ones that seem tame.

Just to have the tech out to AI a cow can cost you around $5 to $10 per cow. With everything else: labour, synching cattle, cost of AI straws, plus to pay an experienced AI tech to do it for you, etc., the whole deal can run you around $55 to $60 or more per cow.

A bull is lead to an artificial vagina or mounting block that has the scent of a cow in heat. Sometimes an estrogen-implanted steer is used. Another technician waits off to the side, usually hidden from the bull's view, with the artificial vagina ready. When the bull mounts, the technician quickly steps in, puts the bull's penis into the AV and waits until the bull has finished ejaculating and removes the apparatus from the bull has he dismounts. The whole procedure is painless and done when the bull is willing to cooperate.

No. Semen needs to be thawed at the right rate and to the right temperature so it is viable when it enters the cow. The thaw bottle or thermos allows the semen to thaw out to the right temperature. You could use the armpit method, but that means sticking a very, very, very, very cold semen straw (remember it's coming out of liquid nitrogen which freezes things instantly) that could freeze to your skin. The bottle is a safer method to use.

There are no effects whatsoever. AI does not influence food value or safety of resulting dairy products purchased at the store.

There are very few quality bulls available for use in dairy cows; only around 500 suitable bulls are used to inseminate the several hundred thousands of dairy cows in production today. Also, dairy bulls are a safety issue, because they tend to be very aggressive and dangerous to handle, more so than beef bulls.

Artificial insemination is used by those who don't want to deal with the hassle and dangers associated with keeping a bull for their herd. Bulls require a good amount of maintenance to keep healthy and fertile, and can be hard on fences and hard on a person's nerves. Dairy bulls especially are very dangerous to work with as they have been known to cause serious injury and death to many a farmer and hired hand. Artificial insemination is most common in dairy herds because of this.

Actually, it's an apples-to-bananas comparison. AI is merely breeding a cow, any cow without needing a bull, and ET is super-ovulating a prized cow, using AI or a prized bull to fertilize those embryos, then transferring those viable, fertile embryos to several donor cows to allow them to grow into equally viable fetuses. So, there's really no way to compare one over the other, because one can be used on any cow or heifer, and the other can only be used on the best pedigreed cow in a herd.

Synchronized estrus is best utilized if you have more than one heifer (3-5 or more) to breed and you want to get them to be in heat at the same time. If you have just one heifer, it's not worth the cost or effort to synchronize her. Talk to your AI tech or bovine veterinarian for more info.

It certainly does. A cow that comes back into heat ~21 days after being bred (the average time between heats for cows and heifers) indicates that AI was not successful. That means that you will have to contact the technician again to schedule another appointment to get her re-bred.

There are many reasons why; most of those reasons are due to nutrition, such as if she's not getting enough copper or selenium, if she's too fat and has cystic ovaries, or too thin and needs to get supplemented with an energy source like grain to gain weight. If she is a freemartin (a twin with a bull calf in utero), the chances of her being able to become pregnant are quite thin. A previous illness that was severe may have also hindered her fertility. Other reasons exist, reasons that you may need to go over, one by one, to see what the real problem is and why she's not getting bred like she should.

Expect that it will cost you anywhere from $45 to $60 per cow or per calf born.

You can try using synchronizing methods of hormone implants and/or injections to get her to return to heat sooner rather than later. But her ability to be in heat, even be fertile, depends on her body condition score and if she's in good health, particularly nutrition-wise. Talk to your vet and an AI tech on some tips for synching your cow, and a nutritionist if you're concerned that the feed she's getting is good to ensure her productivity.

Wait 90 days after calving before doing any synchronizing estrus efforts on her. She needs time to come back into normal estrous cycling before she can be bred again.

That is a loaded question, one which requires too much detail to put in here. Please talk with your bovine veterinarian and a local experienced AI technician for options on how to synchronize your heifers and cows.

This is a common misconception. The AI procedure isn't painful to the cow, and isn't supposed to be painful. It may be more uncomfortable for a cow that isn't used to being bred regularly this way, but not painful. Thus, no anesthesia is required for this procedure.

Because the straws are being taken out of an extremely cold environment (liquid nitrogen), the straws need to be slowly thawed out. It depends on what the company's recommendations are, and size of the straws. 0.5-ml straws can be thawed out in 41 F (5º C) water for 3 to 5 minutes, or warm water (95º F or 35º C) for 90 seconds. The 1-ml straws can be thawed in cold water for 10 minutes.

The one arm that is inserted in the rectum should have a hold of the cervix to help guide the tip of the AI gun through the cervix so the tip of the gun is into the uterus. You need to use your finger to feel for the tip of the gun through the rectal wall to see if it went through the narrow and tight opening of the cervix and is now able to deposit semen into the uterus. In short, you know by feel.

Definitely. There's nothing wrong with that, so long as you inseminate on the same day that you collect semen from the bull.

They get a bit uncomfortable as it's completely foreign to them to have this done. But because AI is done so quickly, and a skilled AI tech will do it without causing pain to a heifer, when it's all done she's back to her normal routine and pretty much forgets about it.

The sealed canister containing liquid nitrogen is a must to keep the semen straws frozen. No straws should be moved unless they're being transferred to another canister. If this is done, the other canister must already have liquid nitrogen within to keep the straws frozen. It's an absolute must to keep the straws frozen at all times, up until one or two are to be taken out and thawed in the thermos of luke-warm water.

A semen canister will cost you anywhere from $200 to over $600. It depends on what size of canister you purchase. The larger the canister, the pricier it gets.