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Faunsdale, AL | Pay the professional and you both go to school. Then you can maintain or even enhance the success rate of your synchronization by AI-ing the ones that come in heat outside the expected time window. I would plan to complete the class ahead of your main window of synchronizing and breeding, so you can cherry pick a few cows with natural heats to gain competence.
I think a lot of the emphasis on placing semen only in the uterine body is a bit of hoohocky. I have preg checked behind a couple neophyte AI breeders and among other things I find a considerable number of cows pregnant to an earlier date.
I believe this points out several things......One is obviously heat detection accuracy......... another is that the neophyte tech is either not getting through the cervix completely or at all because the cow didn't abort from the pipette being introduced into the uterus.
I think the typical AI training over emphasizes placement no deeper in the uterus than just through the cervix and the neophyte is so cautious that they frequently do not get all the way through or slip/pull back into the cervix as the semen is deposited. None of this is good for conception rates. Much better to go on into the uterus a little way even if you deposit the semen in only one horn. Studies of cows slaughtered soon after AI deep in one horn only have shown the sperm to be evenly distributed in the whole uterus. They swim in all directions including back out the cervix! The main thing is to put the whole properly thawed and handled dose of fertile semen IN THE UTERUS......every time.
I saw a nice study done many years ago that took a group of techs, some professionals and some neophytes and asked them all to place half the dose of semen a couple inches down each uterine horn. Their conception rates were compared before and after the change. The professionals had good rates before and did not change after, but many of the less experienced techs improved significantly.
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Learn AI, or pay professional?
