# Sexed semen??? Really?



## allenslabs (Feb 6, 2005)

I had seen someone mention sexed semen....can that happen? If so, how does that work? You buy it and say you want semen that will give you a heifer or a bull? Is there a huge price difference? Mine is due in January so am looking into my options! Thanks!


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## genebo (Sep 12, 2004)

Some of the larger semen dealers are offering it for the most popular breeds. Not all breeds.

It is supposed to increase the ration of calves of your selected gender. From what I hear, it works reasonably well.

It has to be planned and done to the semen before it is frozen, which is why they can't do it to semen they already have frozen.


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## willow_girl (Dec 7, 2002)

Yes, it's for real. 

I believe it's sorted under a microscope. It's a bit more expensive although that varies with the bull. Some of the more desirable bulls aren't available because the profit margin is lower on it, so companies that can sell all of a bull's semen unsexed will do so. The conception rate is slightly lower as there are fewer spermatozoa per straw

In the Holstein world, it's recommended primarily for use in virgin heifers.

I think the percentage of female calves typically is above 90.

That's what I can recall off the top of my head!


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## allenslabs (Feb 6, 2005)

That is really interesting to me. I will have to look into that. 
Willow girl- that makes sense on why bother to sex the semen on a big name bull if you can sell it anyhow.


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

LOL. Yes, it is done by sorting the semen.

I remember when I first heard of it. I was like, "No way!"

http://www.cattletoday.com/archive/2008/February/CT1428.shtml

from the article~

"The way the process is done is based on the fact that the x chromosome has 3.8 percent more DNA than the y. The machines can read that difference in DNA content," says Toro. The semen is stained with a fluorescent dye and then passed through a machine (flow cytometer) that can sort the sperm as it goes by in a stream of single droplets. The female producing sperm with the x chromosome shines brighter than the y because the x chromosomes are 3.8 percent larger and have absorbed more dye. A laser in the sorting machine determines the gender of the sperm based on the amount of light it emits."



The technology has gotten even more efficient since this article was written.

Amazing stuff.


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## Nicole Irene (Jun 12, 2011)

It worked for us.  

We bought our cow from a dairy vet that had it done.


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## BlackWillowFarm (Mar 24, 2008)

I have a two month old Jersey heifer calf from AI/sexed semen. We bred a virgin Jersey heifer with it. I'm pleased with the results. From my limited understanding, it's used mostly on heifers because they settle easier than adult cows.


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## allenslabs (Feb 6, 2005)

So what....when you buy your semen you say "Send me semen for a heifer" or "send me semen for a bull"? 

Does anybody know why it is mainly used on heifers? I'm just fascinated by this! I told my dad that this really happens and he thought I was crazy! LOL!


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## allenslabs (Feb 6, 2005)

Sorry Carla, I must have posted at the same time. Wonder why they settle easier?


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

I think it is mostly dairies that prefer heifer calves. 
The sexed semen thing is all about making replacement heifers for milking. 

Heifers settle easier because they are young and less likely to have cysts and injuries on their insides.
They are a 'clean slate', w/o having had traumatic births. Their hormones are at their peak of being balanced.
Breeding in general gets trickier as cows age. (not that much different from people really.  )


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## willow_girl (Dec 7, 2002)

What Gone-a-milking said .... also, it's hard on little heifers to have big bull calves.


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## minifarmer (Mar 28, 2008)

I work in a Sexed Semen Lab, Sexing Technologies. The semen is collected on site, we check the Quality under a microscope, making sure it passes at least 55% motility and no more than 30% morphology problems. Then it is stained with a florescence dye and a food dye and placed on Sex-Sorting machines which detect the slightly larger amount of DNA in an X sperm chromosome (as opposed to the Y) The machine 'sees' every cell and either sorts it into the X side or discards it as a Y, or waste (ie morphology issues) It is then chilled in a cooler, centrifuged down, extended with sperm 'food' (similar to conventional extender) and packed into straws. NOw it can either be frozen in nitrogen for future use, or used fresh on site for AI. 
We sell 2 products. 2.1 million/ml is for use on hieffers. or 5.0 to be used on cows. We can sort male cells for the beef industry or female cells for the dairy industry. We offer tons of different bulls and the price depends mostly on the stats of the bulls, like his mother, and daughters, etc.... It is pretty cool stuff. We have sorted cat, dog, dolphin, goat, pig... Here is the website: http://www.sexingtechnologies.com/


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## linn (Jul 19, 2005)

allenslabs said:


> I had seen someone mention sexed semen....can that happen? If so, how does that work? You buy it and say you want semen that will give you a heifer or a bull? Is there a huge price difference? Mine is due in January so am looking into my options! Thanks!


There was a huge difference in the price of sexed Jersey semen from ABS. I chose to buy the unsexed semen because my cows sometimes don't always stick on the first try with AI.


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## willow_girl (Dec 7, 2002)

Minifarmer, thanks for that explanation! :thumb:

_Dolphin_ semen, though? 

What would a Dolphin-Jersey cross look like, I wonder?! ound:


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## FEF (Jan 30, 2007)

allenslabs said:


> I had seen someone mention sexed semen....can that happen? If so, how does that work? You buy it and say you want semen that will give you a heifer or a bull? Is there a huge price difference? Mine is due in January so am looking into my options! Thanks!


Yes, sexed semen is available from several sources and on several bulls and breeds. It's not a gurantee of gender, though, just better than the normal 50-50 ratio we expect. 

I don't know about dairy semen, but there's quite a bit of difference in price on beef sexed semen. The kicker is that you need different equipment than in normal AI. Because of the cost, the straws are smaller. If you're thinking about using it, be sure your tech is a very good one. 

http://www.accelgen.com/acc-ss.aspx


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## Reed77 (Mar 20, 2011)

minifarmer said:


> I work in a Sexed Semen Lab, Sexing Technologies. The semen is collected on site, we check the Quality under a microscope, making sure it passes at least 55% motility and no more than 30% morphology problems. Then it is stained with a florescence dye and a food dye and placed on Sex-Sorting machines which detect the slightly larger amount of DNA in an X sperm chromosome (as opposed to the Y) The machine 'sees' every cell and either sorts it into the X side or discards it as a Y, or waste (ie morphology issues) It is then chilled in a cooler, centrifuged down, extended with sperm 'food' (similar to conventional extender) and packed into straws. NOw it can either be frozen in nitrogen for future use, or used fresh on site for AI.
> We sell 2 products. 2.1 million/ml is for use on hieffers. or 5.0 to be used on cows. We can sort male cells for the beef industry or female cells for the dairy industry. We offer tons of different bulls and the price depends mostly on the stats of the bulls, like his mother, and daughters, etc.... It is pretty cool stuff. We have sorted cat, dog, dolphin, goat, pig... Here is the website: http://www.sexingtechnologies.com/


This is very interesting! Can people ship cooled semen or does it have to be collected on sight? Do you do horses also? How much does this cost usually?


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## allenslabs (Feb 6, 2005)

WoW! That is really interesting. Mine is due with her second calf in January. Would it be a waste of money do you think to try and AI her with sexed semen or would she possibly take with it? Can you just buy one or two straws??


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## linn (Jul 19, 2005)

Reed77 said:


> This is very interesting! Can people ship cooled semen or does it have to be collected on sight? Do you do horses also? How much does this cost usually?


I get semen shipped to me in a small tank containing liquid nitrogen. Who knows how long ago they collected it. Cow semen is kept frozen in liquid nitrogen. I think most sexed semen is sexed for heifers.
You can buy a small bore AI gun from farm supply companies and from the ABS rep.


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## minifarmer (Mar 28, 2008)

Reed77 said:


> This is very interesting! Can people ship cooled semen or does it have to be collected on sight? Do you do horses also? How much does this cost usually?


I don't recommend fresh sorting unless your cow/hieffer is on site because the semen goes through alot already, so the added shipping time would be detrimental to the motility and fertility rate. We do sex shipped bull semen though, but generally freeze it in straws. 

We have had done some work with horses. So far, it seems to be very high end studs. I think the horse market needs to catch up with the technology before we go any more commercial with it.

I work in the actual lab so I'm really not educated in the pricing, but it is quite higher than conventional as there is considerable value added. We do fill small orders with no problems. The straws are 1/4 cc (conventional is 1/2cc) so you will need some special equipment.


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## Lazy J (Jan 2, 2008)

linn said:


> Cow semen is kept frozen in liquid nitrogen.


HE HE

Is that like a Rooster Egg?


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

Many years ago there was a scam outfit selling sexed semen, guaranteed. Money back if you didn't get what you wanted.

Here is the scam. The semen was run of the mill AI sires. The stuff sold for about 6 bucks a straw. They sold the sexed stuff for $50 a straw. Of course random chance would produce the desired sex 50% of the time. They would return the money of the "failures" and net $25. for each straw of that $6. semen.


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## Catalytic (Sep 15, 2010)

minifarmer said:


> We have sorted cat, dog, dolphin, goat, pig...


I would love to know what the person was thinking to decided to collect semen from a dolphin LOL


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## genebo (Sep 12, 2004)

What a career choice: dolphin AI technician


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## Gregg Alexander (Feb 18, 2007)

Have used sexed semen for several yrs on 1st calf heifers and select top producing cows in the 2 dairy herds that I do AI for. Results are great.


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## allenslabs (Feb 6, 2005)

Awesome! Probably wouldn't work on a 4yr old would it?


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

allenslabs said:


> Awesome! Probably wouldn't work on a 4yr old would it?


Hey, if she breeds easy, and the money won't kill you, give it a shot.


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## cathleenc (Aug 16, 2007)

I tried sexed semen on my 4 yr jersey/guernsey cow 2x with no luck. By the third ai all I cared about was a successful pregnancy. (got it)


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## Catalytic (Sep 15, 2010)

Remembered something I read a while back...cows, goats, horses, who got ACV in their drinking water tended toward female babies. Will try to find the link, might be worth a try!


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## allenslabs (Feb 6, 2005)

What is ACV?


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

ACV = apple cider vinegar


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## allenslabs (Feb 6, 2005)

Hmmmm.....I would just so love a heifer! I would hate to think I put so much thought effort and energy in finding that perfect bull and all the hassle of AI for a bull calf. I would love a heifer. Never know....maybe she'll give me one in January as she is due then. But still.....here's to hoping.
I also heard that about putting it in the water of bucks to shoot for doe kids. Maybe so????


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## Catalytic (Sep 15, 2010)

allenslabs said:


> Hmmmm.....I would just so love a heifer! I would hate to think I put so much thought effort and energy in finding that perfect bull and all the hassle of AI for a bull calf. I would love a heifer. Never know....maybe she'll give me one in January as she is due then. But still.....here's to hoping.
> I also heard that about putting it in the water of bucks to shoot for doe kids. Maybe so????


I visited Mr. Google after I posted. Found some stuff about the ACV on a few other forums, some people swore by it, others said it didn't work. One thing I thought was good to know, people mentioned it could upset the balance of the rumen, so if you try it, perhaps slowly add the ACV to the water, a little more each day until you get to where you want it. I couldn't find a recommended "dosage". I add one quart to my pigs' 55g waterer when I fill the barrel, but that's just for general health and to try to keep the barrel clean.


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## myersfarm (Dec 24, 2004)

this is affecting me....the dairy are using this sex semen on the great cows they want heifers to keep and if they get 70 % heifers out of them ...then they breed the other cows to a BEEF BULL.....the crossed beef breeds sell for more dallors than the straight dairy.....a beef cross bull that is solid black will sell $225 were a dairy bull will sell for $100 around here ...... so the beef cross is same or higher than a dairy heifer


I am thinking with the price of beef going out of site that if i can find them I might try a pen or two of beef cross calfs...they gain faster and since a cross will he heartitier...will let everyone know how it turns out......will try to grow 300 baby calfs this year to 400 lbs






allenslabs said:


> So what....when you buy your semen you say "Send me semen for a heifer" or "send me semen for a bull"?
> 
> Does anybody know why it is mainly used on heifers? I'm just fascinated by this! I told my dad that this really happens and he thought I was crazy! LOL!


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## allenslabs (Feb 6, 2005)

This is true. Right now I have a jers/angus cross heifer that so far, isn't growing as fast as the all beef counterparts but she is definately bigger than a straight jersey heifer at this age. So yeah...I see your point. I am hoping for a heifer this time but ya never know. Always seem to have bulls when ya want heifers and heifers when ya want bulls! LOL! I generally just ask for healthy and try to be pleased with that. LOL!


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