Artificial Insemination: Heat Checking and Semen Analysis
Boar spray for reliable heat checking and photometers for semen analysis. That is how you hit the service window more accurately.
Kerbl Minitube Photometer SDM1 Multispecies for Semen Analysis
Regular price: €2,964.50
Artificial Insemination: Hitting the Right Moment
In sow keeping, a narrow window of time decides how a whole litter turns out. If you pick up standing heat reliably and work with checked semen quality, you get more piglets born alive from every service. Here you will find the equipment for that: boar spray for heat checking and photometers for analysis in your own lab.
Spotting heat and triggering the standing reflex
The Boarmate boar spray contains pheromones of the kind a boar gives off. Sprayed at the sow's head height, it supports the standing reflex and makes heat checking in sows and gilts a great deal clearer, even where no teaser boar is kept. Spray sparingly and always to the same routine, so that your observations stay comparable. Check twice a day at the same time and note every observation in the sow planner. The back pressure test, together with outward signs such as a reddened vulva and pricked ears, gives you a reliable picture of when the service is due.
Measuring semen quality
Whether a dose holds depends largely on the sperm concentration. The Minitube photometer SDM 1 for pigs measures that concentration in seconds and works out for you how far the ejaculate can be diluted. The multispecies version SDM 1 covers further species alongside the pig, which helps if you look after several enterprises. As a consumable, micro cuvettes come in packs of a hundred. Work with prewarmed cuvettes, keep the sample at temperature and measure promptly after collection, then the figures hold up and the dilution is right.
Frequently asked questions
When is the best time to serve?
As a rule of thumb: the first insemination around 12 to 24 hours after standing heat begins, a second about 12 hours later. That is exactly why twice daily checking pays, because without a known start to standing heat the timing becomes guesswork.
How does the boar spray work?
It gives off pheromones that signal to the sow that a boar is present. Together with pressure on the back, that brings out the standing reflex more clearly. It does not replace observation but makes it less ambiguous.
What do I need a photometer for?
It determines the sperm concentration and with it the basis for the right dilution. That way enough viable sperm arrive in every dose, without you wasting ejaculate or mixing the doses too thin.
Equipment for Artificial Insemination
For heat checking you have the Boarmate boar spray. It contains pheromones, supports the standing reflex in sows and gilts and makes heat checking clear even where no teaser boar is kept on the unit. For work on semen quality you will find the Minitube photometer SDM 1 for pigs as well as the multispecies version SDM1, which covers further species alongside the pig. Both determine the sperm concentration in seconds and give you the basis for a suitable dilution, so that enough viable sperm arrive in every dose. The matching micro cuvettes come in packs of 100. Work with prewarmed cuvettes, keep the sample at temperature and measure promptly after collection, then the figures hold up. Check twice a day at the same time and note every observation, and the service window becomes far easier to hit.