A. I.

The first of May we always artificially inseminate the heifers so they will calve in February.   

The first thing we have to do is run them in and give them a shot of Lutalyse, which triggers their heat cycle and synchronizes them to all come into heat about the same time.  They also get a patch on their tail head, which when they are in heat and ridden by other heifers it will turn pink.

As they come into heat we separate them and place them in a different pen where they then will go through the chute to be inseminated. 

It is quite a process of loading semen and getting them inseminated.

The semen is brought to us in this big container of liquid nitrogen.  The first thing is to carefully pull out one straw of semen, this has to be done within just a few seconds so the semen doesn't die.  Then it is dropped into a heater of water to thaw. 

Next the semen is loaded into a plastic sheath and then into a pipet.

The heifer is put into the chute and the breeder takes the pipet and inserts the semen into her uterus.

The heifer is also vaccinated and given a fly tag.

Today we were lucky enough to have a visit from an AG class from a nearby high school. Nearby being 65 miles away.  
Dave and the ABS (American Breeders Service) representative explained the process and answered their questions. 

The kids were great and seemed interested. It is always great when you can educate youth about agriculture. 

We had several heifers to breed this morning and more tonight.  The process takes about three days to complete.  We have around 300 to breed and the majority of those will come into heat in the three days and will get inseminated.