Ian Smith a hog and cattle producer at Argyle, MB attended the recent Topigs Norsvin customer appreciation banquet and yet he is a small producer maybe 18 sows, he likes the service and product.  
“I use their semen all the time, and so I guess that’s how I get the invite and I have no regrets about using their semen,” said Smith. “The hog production has improved with their semen, more pigs born alive, more pigs born period. I haven’t had a boar on this place for ten years now, so I rely solely on AI and no teaser boar or anything like that.” 
Being a small farm Smith plans his strategy and picks up the semen because the delivery fee can get costly. Sometimes he breeds them twice, so once and then 12 hours later, again requiring two doses per animal that’s in heat.  
“And with me only having 20 or 25 sows, well, I might only have one sow come in heat, and then two weeks later another one, so the freight can be more than what the semen is,” said Smith. “The shelf life on the semen is only seven days.” 
Smith weans the sows and about four or five days after weaning, they come in heat, and so that’s how he judges it and drives to Landmark to pick up the semen.  
As a small hog and cattle producer, Smith cut back on hogs because of feed costs last winter. “My gravy train is the customers I sell to for their freezer meat. Been doing it now for 20 years, so I’m not a rookie at it, and that’s the gravy train for me.” 
With the market going up and down like a yoyo and unable to forward contract his production because he’s too small, he relies on the little niche business. 
But the question is what to do with the semen once it arrives on the farm. For Smith a small operator he picks up as needed but for the larger operators, it becomes a scheduled event.  
John Sawatzky said when it arrives on the farm, the critical part is to have proper semen storage maintained as close and constant to 17 degrees Celsius or about 63 degrees Fahrenheit as possible.  
The commercial producer gets an 85-millilitre pack of semen with 1.5 to 2 billion sperm cells in it, plus an extender which in layman’s terms is food for the sperm cells to keep them alive. So this product is good for up to 10 days.  
“Normally, we want to see it used within three to five days ideally, for the best results. Some guys can use it a lot later than that, provided all their storage and handling conditions are ideal,” added Sawatzky.
And the subject of turning and storing or turning the semen every day in the cooler isn’t a reality.  
“Every time you turn a package of semen; you activate the sperm cells. They become more active and eat more food to keep them alive, so never turn them. Instead, leave them until you want to use them.” 
People who pay attention to detail, whether semen handling, storage use, or attention detail of raising piglets, will do much better. •
— By Harry Siemens