Some aspects about insemination in cattle

Dear readers, artificial insemination (AI) is a technology for genetic improvement in cattle with which an increase in production and productivity of the livestock unit is achieved, In Venezuela and specifically in the southern area of Lake Maracaibo, this type of practice has been introduced that allows modernizing production systems and achieving the long-awaited self-efficiency in productivity. To cite an example, with the consultation made to some trusted veterinarians, they mentioned that a bull, in its natural environment can only leave a little more than a dozen offspring per year, but with artificial insemination, that same animal can have thousands of offspring per year and hundreds of descendants.

In livestock systems, reproduction through artificial insemination offers fantastic exploitation options since it allows maintaining the original base genetics of a bull, because the semen is extracted from a specimen that has the characteristics desired by the producer and used to inseminate another specimen (cow) ensuring a calf with high genetic potential avoiding that the following generations are inferior to the current ones.

In the same vein, according to Ríos (2002), out of every 5 calves that are obtained from a bull, 2 are slightly below the general average and 2 slightly above and only 1 out of every 5 bulls meets the optimal characteristics. According to the researcher, artificial insemination is justified because it achieves optimal genetic and productive improvement of livestock. In addition, the frozen semen of a bull allows to establish various types of crosses, a bull can come from very different plains, latitudes and climates which will allow to obtain certain characteristics in its offspring.

It is also important to mention according to the literature review carried out that the influence is exerted by the mother, since it is in the womb of the cow where the adaptation to the environment is transmitted and the defenses and antibodies that will allow the calf to have resistance to a hostile climate and conditions are provided. This process is so important that a cow can be inseminated with semen from a bull from another continent, with a genetics for the required productivity and quality, and the resulting calf will be able to adapt without difficulty to the environment.

The technology of insemination is carried out by technicians specialized in bovine reproduction, in previous times these technicians had an established route and visited the farms of a certain region every day and asked if there were cows in “heat”, if the answer was affirmative they proceeded to inseminate them, and if not, they returned in the next few days. The aforementioned methodology was carried out for a long time, but it was discontinued because the technician who carried out the route did not know the cows that were going to inseminate and his work depended on the information he received from the people on the farm who sometimes did not know how to identify if the cow was ready for reproduction.

Those who know about the management of cattle indicate that in order to easily detect that a cow is in “heat” it is necessary to develop the concept of trust between the animal and the man, because during the heat period the cow takes a cautious attitude towards strangers. Therefore, this system was discontinued because it was impractical and because of the low conception rates.

Therefore, dear readers, based on the aforementioned, the one who must inseminate the cows is the one who is with them all day, the one who knows better than anyone the cattle he manages, the one who gets up and sees the cattle, the one who is with the cows before going to bed, who has everything on the farm: house, family and work, and who just likes to live in the country and knows all the cows and the daughters of the granddaughters of the cows very well.

He is the one who watches them all day and knows what they like to eat, how they behave, where they like to go, what time they fall asleep, where they usually rest. That individual is part of the environment and is as important as the same cattle that you want to improve. Therefore, it is important to train the personnel who are in the production units to obtain better reproductive results through artificial insemination.