Artificial Insemination - Artificial Insemination in Livestock and Pets

Artificial Insemination in Livestock and Pets

Pioneering AI begun in Russia in 1899 by Ivanoff. In 1935 Suffolk sheep diluted semen was sent from Cambridge by plane to Krakoiv Poland, in and international research joint (Prawochenki from Poland, Milovanoff from URSS, Hammond from Cambridge, Walton from Scotland, and Thomasset from Uruguay). Artificial insemination is used in many non-human animals, including sheep, horses, cattle, pigs, dogs, pedigree animals generally, zoo animals, turkeys and even honeybees. It may be used for many reasons, including to allow a male to inseminate a much larger number of females, to allow use of genetic material from males separated by distance or time, to overcome physical breeding difficulties, to control the paternity of offspring, to synchronise births, to avoid injury incurred during natural mating, and to avoid the need to keep a male at all (such as for small numbers of females or in species whose fertile males may be difficult to manage).

Semen is collected, extended, then cooled or frozen. It can be used on site or shipped to the female's location. If frozen, the small plastic tube holding the semen is referred to as a straw. To allow the sperm to remain viable during the time before and after it is frozen, the semen is mixed with a solution containing glycerol or other cryoprotectants. An extender is a solution that allows the semen from a donor to impregnate more females by making insemination possible with fewer sperm. Antibiotics, such as streptomycin, are sometimes added to the sperm to control some bacterial venereal diseases. Before the actual insemination, estrus may be induced through the use of progestogen and another hormone (usually PMSG or Prostaglandin F2α).

Artificial insemination of farm animals is very common in today's agriculture industry in the developed world, especially for breeding dairy cattle. (75% of all inseminations) Swine are also bred using this method (up to 85% of all inseminations). It provides an economical means for a livestock breeder to improve their herds utilizing males having very desirable traits.

Although common with cattle and swine, AI is not as widely practised in the breeding of horses. A small number of equine associations in North America accept only horses that have been conceived by "natural cover" or "natural service" – the actual physical mating of a mare to a stallion – the Jockey Club being the most notable of these, as no AI is allowed in Thoroughbred breeding. Other registries such as the AQHA and warmblood registries allow registration of foals created through AI, and the process is widely used allowing the breeding of mares to stallions not resident at the same facility – or even in the same country – through the use of transported frozen or cooled semen.

Modern Artificial Insemination was pioneered by Dr. John O. Almquist of the Pennsylvania State University. His improvement of breeding efficiency by the use of antibiotics (first proven with penicillin in 1946) to control bacterial growth, decreasing embrionic mortality and increase fertiilty, and various new techniques for processing, freezing and thawing of frozen semen significantly enhanced the practical utilization of AI in the livestock industry, and earned him the 1981 Wolf Foundation Prize in Agriculture. Many techniques developed by him have since been applied to other species, including that of the human male.