The Benefits of Artificial Insemenation in Beef Cattle essays

The Benefits of Artificial Insemenation in Beef Cattle essays The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service defines Artificial Insemination as the procedure of collecting semen form the male of a species and transferring it to the female reproductive tract so that conception can take place. Artificial Insemination is used throughout the world for many purposes ranging from production agriculture to preventing extinction of endangered animals. The use of this practice is not limited to cows, pigs, and horses, but is used in zoos and other exotic breeding programs on including water buffalo, elephants, and ferrets. Artificial Insemination gives a beef producer the opportunity to use a bull possessing superior genetics on their breeding operation. Depending on the goals of an individuals program, A.I. offers a feasible solution to increasing productivity without sacrificing huge investments. Success in an Artificial Insemination program, however, does require attention to detail in the management and production of a herd. There are several steps to establishing an Artificial Insemination breeding program. These steps include record keeping, heat detection, estrus synchronization, sire selection, and the insemination procedure itself. These procedures, combined with sound herd management practices such as herd health, can allow the producer to reap numerous benefits. Just like any other agricultural practice, Artificial Insemination has had many years of development and research, over three centuries to be exact. Artificial Insemination was haphazardly discovered by Arabian horse breeders in the 1400s. By using a sponge, they took semen for a stud and inserted into a vagina of a mare in heat. Over the next 300 years, many trial and error periods took place. In 1780, Spallanzani, an Italian physiologist, first documented the use of AI on dogs and amphibians. In 1914, a Russian scientist named Ivanoff developed a method of retrieving semen by us...