UNIVERSITY PARK - Thinking about using artifical insemination in your breeding swine operation? VG. Pursel of USDA’s swine research station in Beltsville, Md., recommends producers weight the pros and cons of A.I in swine before plunging in whole hog Some advantages of A 1., noted Pursel during the Dairy and Livestock Day held on the Penn State campus Monday, are. greater use of superior boars, introducing new breeding lines with less disease risk (most diseases spread through nose-to nose contact, not through semen, large boars can be used to breed gilts, and a large number of sows can be having more lambs, more pounds of iamb. Over three years, the Fmnsheep produced 2bl of lamb where the Suffolks had 219 pounds. Producers will have to assess their facilities and their labor when choosing a breed that produces Jitters rather than twins, Katsigianis stressed He noted artificially reared lambs always weighed 10 pounds lighter than their siblings reared LANCASTER DAIRYMEN: IT’S A FACT: chances are better than 9 out of 10 that your herd o slick, high-producing cows is infected with roundworms. Here are five more facts you should know about worms, the product losses they can cause, and how to help stop them with TBZ; the prefreshening cattle wormer. FACT I—Most wormy cows “look healthy” because they eat enough to feed the worms AND to keep themselves looking good. University, Extension and other scientists have proved over 90 percent of all cattle are wormy, even w cold, northern donates u FACT 2—Worms can cut production, even in top herds, by as much as 400 to 500 pounds per head per lactation... shown in trials in Wisconsin, Vermont and other daily states FACT 3—One out of four d now worm routinely, and t PREFRESHENWG MIRY WORKER Is swine A.I. for you? bred in a short time to tanow at the same tune. Pursel also pointed out, in the swme industry, A.I. has to be a do it-yourself task in order to keep on farm traffic to a minimum. And heat checking sows and gilts is a time-consuming job Another drawback to A.I. in swine is the lower fertility rate and smaller litter size that’s produced as compared to natural servicing. Comparable rates and numbers are possible, said the researcher, but only under perfect conditions ' One of the major steps in A.I is collecting and storing semen. Pursel explained boars are taught to mount “dummy” sows and are collected, producmg 250 c.c. of ejaculate in 5 minutes (compared Sheep (Continued from Page A 42) on the ewe, and they took 172 days to reach slaughter weight as compared to 150 days for a twin and 137 days for a single The artificial rearing, he pointed out, did not affect carcass traits In the final slaughter analysis, the Finnsheep-cross lambs took longer to reach slaughter weight and had more kidney fat and a slightly smaller rib eye than the Suffolk-cross lambs -SM produced COUNTY IBi to a bull’s 5-8 c c ) The semen is then dividied into the number of desired doses and placed in 1-2 ounce screw-top bottles These bottles are then filled with an extender, such as BLI (developed at Beltsville) or IVT Other types of extenders include skim milk, which stores semen for up to 8 hours, and egg-yolk glucose which keeps the semen for a day after collection Pursel explained the bottles of semen and extender are then placed in a Styrofoam box and stored at 58-84 degrees Farenheit until the gilts and sows are to be bred. Advantages of being able to store semen for longer periods of tune, and even freezing semen, include. samples of the semen could be tested tor pathogenic organisms; semen storage could be limited to disease-free, fertility tested boars, and semen of good quality” could be used only Pursel confessed the technique of freezing swine semen has not been perfected AI with frozen semen results in a still smaller litter size and a lower pregnancy rate The researcher recommended swine breeders consider using frozen semen of top boars only on more are beginning even - year FACT 4—Worming each cow with TBZ before she calves lets her begin lactation clean, and helps make peak production possible all through lactation. FACT S—TBZ is a one-dose, one-time worming treatment available in paste, bolus, suspension and pellet forms. At the stanchion or in the calving pen, TBZ makes worming each cow s she freshens simple, easy, quick. See your Dealer, Feed Supplier or eterinarian today. • •• Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 7,1981—A43 20 cows die from dairy disease MONTROSE Pennsylvania dairymen are warned to be on the lookout for revival of an old disease that can bring on pneumonia, systemic infections, abortions and even infertility if not caught in time. The name of the disease is haemophilus somnus Dr. Lawrence J. Hutchinson, Penn State extension veterinarian, says H. somnus is not yet their best females Then, future breeding boars could be selected from this smaller but better number of offspring As in the cattle industry, Pursel noted the development of estrus and ovulation control is being studied as a tool to improve on A I techniques However, he con cluded so far there has been little difference in fertility and litter size between synchronized and non synchronized animals bred naturally. A larger litter size only has been realized when breeding with frozen semen -SM widespread in the state, br*' it is on the increase, usually ap pearing as pneumonia in calves and heifers. As many as two herd infections have been reported in a smgle week. Hank Swartz, who operates Loudon Hill Farms, Susquehanna County, says the disease hit 80 head of his cattle recently. Twenty died before vaccination brought the outbreak under control. Antibiotic treatment has been “fairly successful” if treatment is started early in the course of the disease, Dr. Hutchinson says. However, he recommends vac cination for herds in which the disease has been diagnosed. One of the problems with H. somnus is that its symptoms can be mistaken for other, more widely-known diseases unless special culture techniques are used to isolate it. Such techniques are available at state labs, as well as labs at Penn State and the University of Penn sylvania, Dr. Hutchmgon says. 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