Semen Collection & Frozen Semen

Semen Collection

for Fresh Artificial Insemination

Some stallion owners only allow their stallions to perform AI and not natural service. This decreases the risk of injury to the stallion.

In addition some stallions remain more level headed for competition if they are not breeding mares by natural service. Semen is collected from the stallion, processed and inseminated into the mare immediately.

This process is suitable when both the stallion and mare are at Ovens Valley Equine.

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Semen Collection

for Chilled Artificial Insemination

Ovens Valley Equine ship chilled semen Australia wide. We routinely collect the semen in the afternoon and ship overnight so it arrives the next morning at its destination. It may be possible to fly the semen via Qantas Freight for quicker delivery time, however this is dependent on flight schedules.

It is important that the mare owner has finalised the relevant paperwork and service contracts with the stallion owner prior to ordering semen. A chilled semen order form can be found in the on line forms on this website. This form is to be received by Ovens Valley Equine no later than 3pm on the day prior to required semen collection (please note this is not the day prior to semen delivery). Any orders received after 3pm on the day prior to required semen collection will incur a late order surcharge in addition to the normal collection fee. Unfortunately last minute semen orders are very disruptive to the work flow at Ovens Valley Equine, often resulting in other booked appointments being postponed and inconvenience to other clients.

In addition not all stallions are resident at Ovens Valley Equine and they must travel into the clinic for collection. The logistics of getting a non-resident stallion into the clinic and getting the semen to the courier on time are difficult and sometimes impossible when same day semen orders are received.

Ovens Valley Equine requires pre-payment for all semen collections and shipping costs. Please complete the payment authority form and return to us prior to collection and shipment. If we have not received a payment authority form or we have been unable to process the payment semen collection will not proceed.

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Semen Collection

for Freezing

There is a large stallion-to-stallion variability in the success of semen freezing which is still poorly understood today. While many stallions achieve good pregnancy rates with their frozen semen some have significantly reduced or poor pregnancy rates. In addition while microscopic examination is a good indicator of fertility with fresh semen it may not be a good indicatory with thawed, frozen semen. After thawing, sperm may look to have good progressive motility under the microscope but still fail to get pregnancies.

For all these reasons it is important that clients have realistic expectations with regard to freezing their stallion’s semen. If a stallion’s fertility, when naturally bred to reproductively normal mares, is questionable he is probably not a candidate for freezing semen. In all stallions a thorough semen evaluation and test freezing is necessary to evaluate whether that stallion maybe a good candidate for commercial freezing. Even then the only true test of a stallion’s frozen semen is to use it to breed mares and assess the subsequent pregnancy rates.

Stallions stay at Ovens Valley Equine for variable lengths of time depending on how many mare doses the stallion owner wishes to have frozen. For more information on costs related to semen freezing please contact our office via phone or email.