November 28th 2000 was the
beginning of a new adventure for us at Hawks Mountain Ranch.
We artificially inseminated 28 Icelandic ewes with semen we
imported directly from Iceland this fall. We invited many of our local fellow Icelandic
breeders to share the experience and lend a helping hand for the 3 hour process. George and I found that by helping other
breeders AI earlier this fall, we felt much better prepared to plan the
event for ourselves. It is
amazing what a little experience will do to help bring written
instructions into a much clearer focus. Much like we observed in our “trial
run” during a friends AI day last fall, we set up a process line with people
assigned to each station. We
went through the instructions so everyone felt they understood their role
in the process. Step 1 consisted of taking the ewes out
of their holding pens and putting them on specialized “tilting
gurneys” designed to hold the animal stomach up and legs securely
strapped down. George and a couple of his friends manned this station. Step 2 called for the belly of the sheep to be sheared in the area where the points of entry would be made that went directly into the uterine horns. In Step 3, we had one person in charge of injecting a local anesthetic in the area where the insertion areas would occur. In Step 4, The shaved stomach area was
washed and each ewe was given a penicillin
shot. The area around the the entry holes was disinfected in
preparation for the next step. In Step 5, The actual laparoscopy
procedure was done. The frozen semen was then prepared for
artificial insemination into the waiting ewe.
We used 9 different rams so it was important to assure the right
semen was given to the person performing the laparoscopy procedure. Two insertions areas where made.
In one of these holes, a lighted microscope was inserted in the uterus to find the uterine horns. The semen was thawed and loaded into a semen gun and then
injected into the other hole directly into the uterine horns. In Step 6, right after the laparoscopy
was complete, the outside of the entry holes were dusted with antiseptic
powder and the ewes taken off the gurney and turned back out to pasture. We attempted to keep the whole process
as calm and stress free as possible.
They say this facilitates a higher rate of conception. The very last step in the process was a homemade goat cheese and artichoke pizza feed (Georges specialty). We had a great time talking over the days events and admired what a good job we all had did. I can’t say thanks enough to everyone
that helped. This was a new
adventure for George and I. We
felt a lot more comfortable doing it because of all the help we received. It is my hope this article will enable some of the readers who may be thinking of doing artificial insemination, to feel that they have gotten the same kind of insight we did by helping someone else do it. Take care everyone and we wish you a very successful lambing season!
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