Everything you need to know about
Frozen Semen
There have been many people that call and ask about
using frozen semen. It’s a tedious process. That being said,
the benefits of that initial expense can be huge. There are
a few things to consider and I will detail that advice in the
following paragraphs. Here are a few rules:
• Unless the dog is an inside the house dog, take sample
to freeze in the winter time, as the semen quality will
be twice as good. It cost the same to pull and freeze
two straws as it does to freeze and pull 40.
• I strongly recommend Tom Garners “Sperm Up”
supplement. It is based on his RF1 formula with added
tribulus for fertility. If you can’t afford that, put him
on a multivitamin along with a bit of probiotics in his
daily feed for a month before you plan on collecting
the semen to freeze. It makes a difference.
• A month before you collect from him, walk him
around the neighborhood for at least 30 minutes a
night or morning daily. The dog will mark his territory
for females in the area to smell him. This walking
and marking of territory signals the brain to signal
the testicles to start producing semen for a potential
mate.
• Nothing else matters but post thaw motility. They
collect the dog then look at it under a microscope to
determine if it’s good enough to freeze. You want
motility of 85% or above. It does no good to freeze
from a dog with lower motility. If it is good, they
freeze it and then thaw out one of the straws or pellets
to see how much semen survived the freezing process.
You want that number to be above 50%. If it’s in the
high 80’s, only one or two straws are necessary. If
70’s maybe three, 60’s maybe four, below 60 up to five
straws. You need 100 million motile sperm for a good
litter. For example:
“The number of straws required per insemination is
determined by thawing a straw and rating its post thaw
motility. For a frozen semen breeding you want to have a
minimum of 100 million motile sperm per insemination.
Each straw holds 50 million sperm but not all of them will
survive the freezing process, hence the evaluation of “post
thaw motility”. The higher the percent post thaw motility
the fewer straws are required. For example; if a sample is
rated at a 70% post thaw motility, of the 50 million sperm in
the straw 35 million will have survived the freezing process,
so in order to get at least 100 million motile sperm you
would need to use 3 straws (3 X 35 million = 105 million
motile sperm).” 1
• Don’t get ripped off when buying semen, ASK
FOR POST THAW MOTILITY % and what the vet
1 Taken from: http://www.strawstopaws.com/index.
php?main=faq web page of Straws to Paws LLC
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recommended given that motility to get a big litter.
Use a young bitch. Young, well fed, healthy bitches
with frozen semen give you much better litters given
that the quality of the eggs is much better.
Start progesterone timing at day 10 or 11 from the
first signs of a heat cycle. Most vets will want to
do a surgical insemination two days after the bitch
ovulated.
Bitches ovulate when progesterone is between 5 and
8.
I breed my dogs two days after ovulation, even when
I breed naturally. I like to do progesterone timing so I
don’t have to guess when the bitch is due. Bitches have
puppies 63 +/- one day from ovulation. It’s also good
to know because if you get to 65 days after ovulation
with no pups, you know to take the bitch to the vet for
a C-Section that morning.
Lastly, FREEZE YOUR PRIZED MALES
EARLY! The semen quality is much better before
seven years old.
Good luck
Alberto Ramirez
THE ROLE OF A REGISTRATION OFFICE
With the advances in scientific knowledge and the
technology to provide verification of parentage, registries
are now being held to a higher standard. It used to be that
the owner of the bitch and the stud were the only two
individuals supervising a breeding, but with the use of frozen
and fresh chilled semen, the number of individuals handling
the breeding has multiplied, i.e. one to collect, a technician
or two to process the semen and freeze, one to retrieve and
reactivate, and one to inseminate. The more individuals
involved in this complex process the more room for mistakes
to be made. A Registration Office would be negligent if
additional verification was not required in the registration of
litters or individuals using FROZEN SEMEN and FRESH
CHILLED SEMEN.
A policy on the registration of litters produced using
FROZEN SEMEN has been in place for several years.
This policy includes a DNA profile to be submitted to the
registration office on the stud dog, recording of each collection
and freezing of semen, and attachment of ADBA form
AIFS to the litter registration application with the verifying
signatures of the owner of the semen and the veterinarian
doing the insemination.
The ADBA Inc. has DNA profiling services, so you can
visit our website or call our office to order Collection Kits.
Dog must be ADBA registered prior to being profiled. The
fee for these kits are $6.00 for the cheek swab or for a Blood