Ms. Gottfried

 PmA

 Volume  Concentration  Motility

 Measured in ml and can be expressed in two ways  1. Whole semen  Composed of pre-wash, sperm rich and the gelatinous plug.  Average volume is 65 ml but can be above 200 ml  2. Gel semen  Whole semen with the gel portion removed by passing through a filter.  Amount of gel is variable but increases in the off season.

 Shown as number of spermatozoa (cells per ml.  Average concentration is 280 million cells per ml (280x 10 6 /ml)  Concentration can be visually estimated by physical appearance (color)  Good = grey/milky Bad= clear/watery  Hemacytometer  Semen is diluted and counted

 Expressed as percentage  Good stallion = 70% or better  Everything touching semen must be at 73 degrees C (98.6 F)  1. Raw  Gel free  2. Diluted  Mixed with solution that prevents clumping.

 Abnormalities  No one really knows how closely related abnormalities are to fertility rates.  High quality semen should not have more than 15% primary and secondary abnormalities.  The heads of live semen will resist staining  Three classifications of abnormalities  Primary  Secondary  Tertiary

 Primary (testes)  A failure of spermatogenesis  Abnormal head, double head, poor development of tail, double tail.  Secondary (epididymis)  a failure of maturation  Separation of head from tail, cytoplasmic droplets, fixed bend in tail  Tertiary  Damage occurring during or after ejaculation  Rough handling (cold shock) can also cause separation of head and tails.

 Raw semen is short lived at room temp or refrigerated.  Extender allows it to stay viable for up to a few days.  Semen temp is lowered to lower the metabolic activity and extender added.

 Acts as a source of nutrients  Egg yolk (whites are bad!)  Milk- heated to destroy some detrimental enzymes  Acts as a buffer  Must neutralize the products of normal spermatozoa metabolism  Common buffer is 2.9% sodium citrate solution  May contain antibacterial agents  Penicillin and streptomycin are a common mixture.

 Volume of at least 10 ml  Contain a minimum of 500 x 10 6 live normal cells  1. Total number of cells: gel-free volume x concentration = total cells 2. Total number of live cells: Total cells x % motility= total live cells

 3. Total number of live normal cells: Total live cells x % normal cells = total live normal cells  4. Total number of insemination: Total number of live normal cells/500 x 10 6 live normal cells

 Total ejaculate:70 ml  Gel-free volume:60 ml  Gel volume:10 ml  Concentration:200 x 10 cells/ml  Motility:80%  Abnormalities:10%  How many mares can you breed?