TRANSPORT VIABILITY / 48 HOUR PROGRESSIVE MOTILITY EVALUATION |
| If you are considering shipped semen from your
stallion to expand your market, good management would
dictate that his semen be tested to see whether or not it
will withstand the rigors of cooling and overnight
storage. With our transport viability test, the semen is collected and packaged exactly as if it were to be shipped via overnight mail. A variety of seminal extenders are used for packaging the semen. Generally two aliquots per extender type are packaged. One aliquot per extender type is removed at 24 hours and progressive motility is determined. At 48 hours the second aliquot of each extender type is removed for progressive forward motility determination. This variety of extenders gives us a more complete picture of seminal compatibility with extender types. Not all ejaculates are acceptable for testing. We would begin by performing a seminal collection and checking the concentration of spermatozoa per ml, pH, volume of gel free semen and progressive forward motiltiy. If the ejaculate is acceptable, i.e., over 50 % motility, we can determine the semen/extender ratio and make the individual aliquots for storage. If the motility is below 50%, additional collections may be necessary before an ejaculate can be tested. Any samples under a concentration of 130 million/ml are centrifuged according the the method of Loomis. It may take more than one collection to determine the best extender for a particular stallion. |