Semen Collection
Semen Collection and Freezing
LBS has modern, biosecure semen collection facilities at Jerilderie and Yass in NSW.
Advantages of Semen Freezing
- Store semen for later use in an AI program
- As insurance of a valuable ram
- Frozen semen to sell or distribute to shareholders in a ram
- Once successfully frozen, semen will last forever
Semen Quality Testing
Semen testing provides you with important information on the fertility of your rams. It is important pre-joining and also for pre-sale animals to ensure fertile animals are being bought and sold. Semen testing is also useful in diagnosing and treating suspected fertility issues.
LBS veterinarians perform a health assessment on your ram at time of semen testing and are able to test bloods for fertility related pathogens.
Get your rams semen tested and/or a full health assessment at our Jerilderie or Yass centres.
Semen Export
LBS is an Australian Department of Agriculture registered export centre and exports ram semen to many countries around the world.
Contact LBS today to book in your ram for export collection.
Why Freeze Semen?
Semen is frozen for one or a number of the following reasons:
- As insurance against the loss or infertility of a valuable sire.
- For the purpose of making semen available for sale to other breeders.
- To deliver “semen shares” in rams that have multiple owners.
- To send semen a long distance, interstate or international.
- To use a sire in an AI program that cannot be used for natural joining, such as Show rams, very young rams or infirm rams.
What sires can be collected?
Nearly all sires are candidates for semen collection, and even some injured or arthritic sires can be collected successfully. The health of the testicles is the major limitation to successful semen freezing, and that functionally remains largely unknown until semen is collected and analysed.
Semen from rams with significant apparent testicular pathology can be frozen successfully, whilst some rams with no apparent problem can be infertile. A single functional testicle can produce fertile semen.
Age is no particular problem, if testicles are functional and healthy. As young as 8 months and as old as 14 years have given viable semen in enough volume to be freezable.
How often can sires be collected?
An average ram or buck may give .5ml to 1.5ml of semen per ejaculate. Some sires can do this 2 or 3 times each day, and perhaps every day of the week. This very much depends on the individual. The range is large and there are a number of reasons why the collections may be limited. These include:
- A lack of libido to perform multiple serves.
- The volume of the ejaculate drops until the volume is unusable.
- The density of the semen starts to drop, also making it unusable.
- Only the very best quality semen will survive freezing and thawing.
Given that one semen ejaculate will dilute to give maybe 60 to 80 doses of frozen semen, and that an average ram will give us say 2 ejaculates on 3 days per week, 400 to 500 doses per week is an average expectation. This ranges from nil to 1000 doses.
Will semen collection affect the reproductive health or capacity of the ram?
No. As sires are actually only working very lightly at a collection centre, and their fertility is being assessed constantly, most sires leave a centre in better reproductive health than when they arrive.
In the paddock situation, if a sire is joined to 50 females, he will have about 3 cycling each day for say 17 days. If he serves each female 3 times, after a few days his semen volume and density has dropped to the point where it would be quite unusable for freezing, but is adequate to get females pregnant. Sires rapidly lose body condition and testicle mass during normal paddock joining.
Can frozen semen transmit disease?
Two venereal diseases are tested for in sheep, and hence avoided, at LBS Collection sheds. These diseases are Brucella ovis (the cause of Brucellosis in sheep) and Actinobacillus seminis. If a ram has either of these diseases, his semen is potentially infective. Ewes inseminated with the infective semen can then pass these diseases onto any rams that come into contact with them, particularly the backup rams used after the AI.
LBS Collection Centres
LBS has 2 centres (Jerilderie and Yass) and will collect and freeze the best possible semen from your sire. Disease control measures and management with over 25 years of experience in operating semen collection will ensure no risk to your sire. LBS owns no sires, nor any stud animals, and guarantees that you, the owner, retain all control over your sire’s genetics at all times.
