Same day shipment to Canada

[busybee]

With the new rules can semen be same day shipped into Canada?

[showjumpers66]

I don't think it can happen unless you collected the day before and got the paperwork done then and faxed over. Then, you might as well just ship Fed-ex. I know that I have to collect at 3 to 4 am in order to get the semen on a flight that arrives at a decent time especially if you are trying to get it into customs before they close for the day. The problem is that USDA will only endorse paperwork here between 9 to 11:30 am and 1:30 to 3:00 pm and it is a 5 hour drive away. I could put it on a plane in Oklahoma City, but the earliest flight it could go on would be 10:30 am. It would then have to fly to a "hub" and from there to Canada.

[Equine Reproduction]

With the new rules can semen be same day shipped into Canada?

No reason why not as long as there is timely access to the attending vet, USDA and the shipping/airline center.

The simplest protocol would be:

Collect stallion with attending vet present;
Attending vet fills out zoosanitary certificate;
Someone goes to USDA with the zoosantiary certificate and import permit in had and gets it endorsed;
Semen and paperwork gets dropped off at airport or wherever the same-day service is located.

It might make for a bit of extra running around and perhaps an early morning collection (so you may want notification the night before), but it's really no different from what we do with shipments to Canada via FedEx, with the exception of the fact that the final drop-off point is the airport rather than the FedEx office.

A lot will depend upon stallion farm's location relative to the USDA office. If you are in a busy horse breeding area, you might also check into if there is a semen courier available locally. We actually have a company running between central OK and northern TX that specializes in couriering semen only from farms to the airports (or other local farms), and they will often do the USDA paperwork on the way to the airport for drop-off.

Good luck!

[showjumpers66]

Kathy, do you know if the customs office has limited hours for clearing the semen at the border or are they available 24/7? I spoke to someone at the border that said they could preclear the paperwork if it was faxed over, but what happens if the semen gets in at say 9 pm? Definately would be good to know in case the situation ever comes up.

[Edgar]

No problem if you start early enough, it is likely a problem if it arrives late and to clear it same day if the cusoms officer went home for the night like S66 mentioned however if you know where it is going it is something you can find out for that station/airport. It is not going to work if the semen order is requested mid day....

[Equine Reproduction]

Remember that if you are shipping counter-to-counter International, then in most cases Customs are going to be open to do the Customs and immigration on the persons flying in on the flight. The only exception might be a very late flight, when customs in Cargo may have closed down for the night. It is going to depend upon where the flight is going into as to how late they will be open. Generally, the major centres will stay open later, although many years ago Jos had semen picked up after midnight in Halifax NS, and inseminated a mare at 3:00 am upon receipt of the semen (is that dedication or craziness? Perhaps dedication and an investment for the future, as the mare got pregnant, had a colt, and he's been freezing semen from the colt, and breeding mares with that semen for the last 8 years now! :) ). In most cases, you will find that Customs open early the next morning at the major airports, so the worst would probably be a few hours delay.

Just how it works if the paperwork is not accompanying the shipment I cannot say, as we always send the paperwork with the shipment. The ISC's do however remain open until midnight for the western and central ones, and 11:00 pm for the eastern one. All of them open at 7:00 am. It might be that you could contact them (http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/imp/importe.shtml) for more details.

Hope this helps.

[Edgar]

Semen shipment can be shipped with unendorsed copies of health cert and permit. Then after dropping semen with airline go to USDA to get the papers endorsed and fax it to or have usda fax it to a broker to clear it. I did kind of like that one by fax last weekend and two weeks ago, both made it.

[Equine Reproduction]

Semen shipment can be shipped with unendorsed copies of health cert and permit. Then after dropping semen with airline go to USDA to get the papers endorsed and fax it to or have usda fax it to a broker to clear it.

Doesn't USDA still have to fax a copy to the CFIA Import Service Center (ISC)? My understanding was that if semen arrived at Canada Customs without a USDA-endorsed copy of the paperwork that Customs were to refer it to the ISC, not a broker. I can see potential for someone not making the correct connection between semen, broker and ISC if the ISC doesn't have a copy...