The recent cold weather has certainly proved challenging and not necessarily just for you and your livestock. Have you been rigorously checking the temperature of your semen storage box or cabinet? Do you know the ambient temperature limits in which your storage equipment can operate correctly?
There are two main types of storage
container, those based on a domestic fridge, and “Thermo-electric” or Peltier
mains/12 volt (usually portable) boxes. Depending on the type, age and supplier,
the lower limit of their ambient operating temperature could range from
-100C to as high as 50C!
If you are running a Peltier box off
a car battery, then low temperatures can affect the efficiency of the battery,
so the heaters have less power, reducing heat output and ability to provide an
acceptable environment.
1) Know the operating limits of your
storage equipment. Contact your suppliers for advice.
2) Closely monitor the internal
temperature of the main storage cabinet. Ideally use a clinical thermometer or a
digital max/min with its bulb in a container of liquid for the static ‘fridge
cabinets’. A mercury maximum/min thermometer is second best choice as it is
measuring air temperature, and the liquid temperature is what you are interested
in. A better alternative is 24 hour surveillance with TinyTags, or equivalent;
these can be provided by your KT manager.
3) Ensure semen doses are not
touching the sides of the box or cabinet. Store doses on the shelves in open
plastic trays/baskets to ensure contact with circulating air at 170C
+/- 20C. Do not overload the semen storage box!
4) Don’t put polyboxes inside a
temperature-controlled semen storage box, you will be isolating the contents
from their ideal environment!
5) It is highly unlikely that
polystyrene boxes per se will offer sufficient protection during our normal
winter whilst the semen doses are being transferred and stored ready for
inseminating the sows. Invest in proper semen storage equipment, continually
monitor the internal temperature and remove the risk of adverse weather
conditions damaging the semen.
6) If your semen storage facility
does go pear-shaped in cold weather, speak nicely to your partner, and find a
room in the house where the temperature is between 17ºC and 20ºC. In the short
term, this will be better than leaving it in a non-functioning box in a cold
environment.