Ram Semen Freezing

About

VRC has a purpose-designed ram collection and freezing centre located on the outskirts of Orange, NSW. Rams will be housed indoors with 1 or 2 week stay packages available. Semen is frozen in STRAWS (1 per dose) allowing easy redistribution and utilisation.

Advantages of semen freezing

INSURANCE Frozen semen allows preservation of your stud's genetic material indefinitely
MORE EWE BREEDINGS The ejaculate is divided into multiple doses, meaning more ewes can be bred with a valuable chosen ram's genetics
GENETIC GAIN Fast genetic progress through expansive use of desired genetics
ECONOMICAL Purchasing frozen semen is more economical than investing in multiple expensive rams, so frozen semen doses can be sold to vendors nationwide.
TRANSPORTATION Semen can be shipped nationwide, mitigating all risk associated with live animal transport and housing.
EFFICIENCY Know you have the required amount of doses ready for your AI program, making for a well planned and efficient breeding season

Preparation makes Perfect

The following pointers are recommended improve the chance of quality semen production:

12 weeks prior:

Sheer

8 weeks prior:

Drench (Tridectin, startec, zolvix ONLY)
Vitamin A/D/E administration
Multimin

*if located east of Orange think about higher Selenium supplementation and liver fluke treatment

2-8 weeks prior:

Vet Check

Collection and Assessment

Dr Jasmin Hyatt is a registered specialist in veterinary reproduction. This means she is both a veterinarian, and has additional training in (amongst other things) semen collection, handling, processing and freezing!

Wherever possible, semen will be collected using an artificial vagina (AV) as this provides us with the best quality and quantity of sample. It does, however, require training of rams in the presence of teaser ewes to ejaculate into the AV. Training can take 0-5 days. If your ram decides the AV isn't for him, we can collect using an electoejaculator (EEJ) however usually the sample contains less sperm and may be contaminated with urine.

Following collection the sample is assessed for

a. Motility - Percentage of sperm moving

b. Morphology - Percentage normal shaped sperm

c. Concentration - Number of sperm per ml

If the sample meets the minimum published standards for the sheep industry, it is then extended with special, purpose made extender (not your commercial extender!)

The freezing process

Following dilution, the sample is processed as follows

1. Cooled to 5 degrees at a controlled rate

2. Packaged in labelled STRAWS

3. Held above liquid nitrogen vapour

4. Plunged into liquid nitrogen (-196 degrees)

5. Stored in liquid nitrogen tanks

6. A sample straw is thawed to assess how it has tolerated the rigorous freezing process and ensure minimum standards are met.

You have the option of storing the straws at VRC (for a yearly fee) or transporting them immediately to another tank location of your choice.