Quality control at the boar stud may improve sperm fertility.

摘要

The main goal for a boar stud is to produce semen without a health risk for the recipient (safe semen), semen with a high fertilising potential (good semen) and for a low cost (cheap semen). These three goals may often be contradictory, as health precautions and extensive quality control implies extra costs and/or extra personnel. However, buyer confidence in the product is vital for the trust of the company (boar stud) and may, in longer terms, be decisive for the existence of the company. Processing boar semen from collection through dilution, packaging, storage and transport to the final destination at the farms implies several critical steps that may influence semen quality and, thus, the semen fertility. Strict hygiene control, correct dilution, and quality evaluation in addition to control of temperature through the whole process are some of the factors that are vital to preserve the fertilising capacity of the processed semen. Even if these factors are optimised, the final fertility result will still be highly dependent on oestrus control of the sow, the right timing of insemination, the correct insemination procedure and the condition of the sow. These important factors, however, will not be covered in this presentation.