Stallion motility?

[GracefulHano]

I am just starting to 'understand' the stallion side of things a little more, rather than just having the vet say 'yup, semen is great!'

What is considered 'acceptable' motility for fresh chilled semen? At collection? 24hrs post collection?

What is there to do when the stallion has poor motility? Is there any recourse when you get a shipment that is extremely low?

I am reading up on the other factors that are included, just for educations sake, but motility seems to be the deciding factor, at least my vet seems to judge it that way...

[Equine Reproduction]

I am just starting to 'understand' the stallion side of things a little more, rather than just having the vet say 'yup, semen is great!'

What is considered 'acceptable' motility for fresh chilled semen? At collection? 24hrs post collection?

Obviously, good motility is helpful, but it is just one part of the equation. It's kind of like asking how long is a piece of string. You need the combined information of motility, concentration and volume. For example, if you have 10 mls of raw semen with a concentration of 25 million/ml and 90% progressive motility, you have insufficient numbers ESPECIALLY if you plan on shipping the semen without centrifugation. However, if you have a 10 mls of raw semen with a concentration of 350 million and 10% motility, you have 350 million sperm cells which is actually an acceptable insemination dose. The industry standard "prefers" 500 million progressively motile sperm for an insemination dose, but that is the plateau at which inseminating more than that does not increase your pregnancy rates. In reality, pregnancy rates don't begin to drop until you have less than 150 million PMS and they don't begin to drop significantly until you get down to 100 million PMS.

So, when you receive a shipment of semen, you want to know what concentration the semen was extended to (should be between 25 and 50 million/ml ideally and at least 3 parts extender to 1 part semen as a minimum), the total volume shipped, the initial progressive motility and the total number of sperm in each insemination dose. With those numbers, you can look at the motility when the semen is warmed and get a pretty good idea of just how many progressively motile sperm you are inseminating. Make sense?

Hope that helps!

What is there to do when the stallion has poor motility? Is there any recourse when you get a shipment that is extremely low?

I am reading up on the other factors that are included, just for educations sake, but motility seems to be the deciding factor, at least my vet seems to judge it that way...[/QUOTE]

[FriesianX]

What is there to do when the stallion has poor motility? Is there any recourse when you get a shipment that is extremely low?

...

That is a kicker question, isn't it? I've run into situations twice now (in six years) where the semen was not viable. From one stallion, insufficient concentration, and no progressive motility (the sperm we did receive swam in circles). From one stallion, just plain poor everything, even centrifuged. In both cases, I lost stud fees and shipping fees, and my biggest recourse has been - NEVER BREED TO THOSE BOYS AGAIN.

I think a good part of it depends on the Stallion Owner. I picked up a breeding (mare) this year after owner received several bad shipments in a row from another stallion - good news, that stallion owner refunded her BOTH the stud fee and the collection fee! I think an SO deserves some kudos for making that decision...

Another mare owner (friend of mine) is dealing with a stallion right now where both motility and concentration are problems - not a single live sperm in two shipments:( Stallion owner wants her to switch to her younger stallion. Well, that stallion isn't what the mare owner wants... So interesting to see what comes out of that.

Equine Repro will probably agree with me on this - ask up front for numbers - ask for info on semen evaluation before you sign the contract...

[log hollow]

I booked to a stallion a few years ago and had the same problem. The first shippment sent to me was dead.... not one was moving. We did get another half decent dose, but my mare still did not settle. I admit that my mare was 3 and being a problem, but the semen we received was not good... period. We then thought that we would take a step back and end that breeding season and start again early the next spring. I phoned the SO a month before we were preparing to breed this mare and made sure he was available and ready to ship. The SO said no problem... just give me a heads up. Well, we were on top of this mare and when she had a viable follicle, I phoned the SO to let her know that we would be needing semen in a few days. I phoned 3-4 days later and asked for a shippment thinking that everything would be A-OK since I gave them plenty of time to get the stallion ready. Well, when we looked at the semen, it was aweful... they admiditly told me that it was the "clean out" collection... the first collection for this stallion. Long story short... when I asked why they sent me this, the collector told me that this stallion's semen was better than other stallions that they collected multiple times.... WHAT???? Who cares about THOSE stallions... I was just interested in getting a good shipment from THIS stallion!!! Anyway, it cost me TONS of money with nothing... when I asked the SO to return my stud fee, she freaked out and told me she would not do that, even though they were in breach of contract since they did not send viable semen and the contract stated that they would. I just walked away and didn't communicate to them again... a lesson learned!!

We did change stallions, got the mare bred, had a beautiful filly and she is re-bred again.

I suppose all things happen for a reason... when I look at this stallion now, I am very happy that I didn't get my mare bred, because I don't care much for the foals that he put on the ground.