Estimating book size and optimal semen breeding dose

A vital component in the field of commercial equine breeding using AI is optimising the stallion’s sperm insemination dose in order to maximise his breeding potential. An efficient breeder should at least have an idea of the minimum number of sperm required to achieve pregnancy and live birth rates that are at least comparable with natural service or are acceptable compared with industry standards. A common misconception amongst breeders is that an insemination dose should contain either a fixed dilution rate with a semen extender or a fixed number of sperm across a range of stallions. If this was the case it would certainly make life easier, but unfortunately experience has shown us that semen from different stallions exhibit a wide range of fertilising ability and it is important to build a profile of each stallion individually to (a) maximise his breeding potential in terms of maximising the number of mares covered per ejaculate and (b) provide a fair degree of certainty that a mare recipient will conceive ...