Artificial Insemination Technique Needs Attention

Abstract

Significant variation exists among inseminator conception rates, (Graham, 1966; Senger et al., 1981 , Ron et al., 1983; Senger et al., 1983 and Uw1and, 1983). This variation is due at least in part to differences in skill levels of inseminators. During the last 15 years , artificial insemination responsibility has been transferred from professional technicians to herdsman-inseminators (H-1). Current estimates report that approximately 65 percent of semen is sold directly to dairy and beef herds resulting in producers performing the majority of inseminations. Often, poor insemination skills on the part of herdsman-inseminators are not recognized and the deficiencies may translate into poor reproductive performance. Until recently several major problems have existed regarding the evaluation of insemination technique. They are: I) Errors in inseminating technique specific to an individual inseminator have not been described critically; 2) there is a significant amount of misunderstanding among inseminators regarding reproductive tract anatomy. This paper will summarize several previously published reports which deal with problems in A. I. technique.