Artificial Insemination (AI) is a handy tool to carefully manage your flock, improve your genetics and ease lambing time.
How AI can help:
- It provides you with a tighter lambing period, which facilitates planning.
- AI increase ram use, one ram can settle more ewes than could be achieved with a natural breeding season. Good quality fresh semen can be used to inseminate up to 150 -250 ewes in one day.
- Each ram used in an AI program has its semen evaluated before using it. This reduces the risk of infertile rams being used.
- Cost and labour are greatly reduced due to ewes lambing over a period of 5 days after Laparoscopic AI.
- Lambs can be reared as a uniform group of the same age rather than spread over a six week lambing period.
- Ewes holding to AI will all be at the same stage of pregnancy, which makes feeding and management easier and more accurate.
- Instead of purchasing an expensive ram, frozen semen can be bought and used to inseminate ewes, which makes for better utilization of rams, especially for the smaller stock farmer.
- Expensive genetics can be brought in at lower cost. Lamb quality can be improved over a wide range of ewes without actually having to buy the ram.
- AI allows for efficient use of a shared ram without moving the ram from farm to farm.
- AI increases the efficiency of Ram Reference Schemes.
AI dates need to be pre-arranged as ewes need to be synchronized to be in season on the date you prefer. We provide you with all the information needed at least one month before your AI date, this includes your program, CIDR’s, and PMSG.
If you consider using AI in your flock for the first time and need to discuss the requirements our staff would be happy to assist you.
For more information please contact our office on 083 308 5277.