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				The initial reaction of most stallion owners when presented with the costs associated with having semen frozen is; "Wow, that sounds expensive". The cost to freeze each collection is 250 Euro. When this is compared to the cost to have an ejaculate of semen collected an processed for cooled shipment, frozen semen is a more expensive technology. However, when you examine the situation more closely you will find that because frozen semen is a more efficient technology it may actually be more economical in many situations. First, in a cooled semen program the stallion must be readily available on, at best, a days notice to be collected. That requires that the stallion owner maintain a staff to handle mare owner requests and collect, process, and ship the semen. Alternatively, many stallion owners rely on their veterinarian to come to the farm and perform the collection and processing procedures or they may make arrangements to trailer the stallion to a farm or University/Clinic which will provide this service for a fee (typically 50-80 euro per collection). Second, if the semen is to be collected and processed on the home farm, a suitably equipped "lab" area and collection area must be available. This involves a significant initial capital investment to set up for proper collection, evaluation, and processing of the stallion semen. Third, cooled semen must be used within 24 to 48 hours after collection, therefore, many mares will require more than a single shipment of semen on a given heat cycle. Those that do not conceive will require additional collections and shipments for subsequent heat cycles. Lets assume that the average cooled semen mating requires 3-4 shipments per season. Unless a stallion is heavily booked, most of the collections performed during the breeding season are for 1 or 2 mares only. For this example we'll assume an average of two. If we use the same scenario as we did earlier when examining frozen semen costs (20 mares booked to a stallion) the following costs and results would apply:    1st cycle  2nd cycle  3rd cycle  Total no. mares bred 20 9 4 20 total doses used 30 14 6 50 no. mares pregnant (55%) 11 5 2 18 * assume 55% per cycle pregnancy rate with cooled transported semen * assume 1.5 collections per mare, per cycle final conception rate  = 90% total no. collections per pregnancy  = 2.8 cost per collection  = 75,00 Euro total cost for 50 collections  = 3.750,00 Euro TOTAL COST PER PREGNANT MARE  = 208,00 EURO Expectations for the "Average Stallion" The "average stallion", collected on an every other day basis typically ejaculates sufficient sperm to prepare 12 to 15 doses of frozen semen containing 700-800 million total sperm per dose. SBSE requires that a minimum of 30% progressive motility be present in the sample following thawing to be considered for use in an AI program. This restriction ensures that there are at least 200 million progressively motile sperm in each insemination dose. Ideally, 2 or 3 doses of semen should be used for insemination of each mare per heat cycle. Nevertheless, European breeders usually have only 3 doses at disposal per breeding. SBSE advised stallion owners to preserve 5 doses of frozen semen per mare, per season. Suppose that we wanted to utilize our show stallion in a frozen semen AI program during the next breeding season. We have 20 mares booked and want to breed them all with frozen semen while our stallion participates in sport events. How many mares can we expect to get in foal during three heat cycles? How many doses of frozen semen will be required to breed those mares? How long will it take to freeze a sufficient quantity of semen? Finally how much will it cost and is it a viable alternative for our stallion? The following example assumes an average per cycle conception rate of 40%.    1st cycle  2nd cycle  3rd cycle  Total no. mares bred 20 12 7 20 total doses used 60 24 14 98 no. mares pregnant (40%) 8 5 3 16 final conception rate (3 cycles)  =  80% total no. doses used per pregnancy  =  6.13 (if 2 doses are used per heat cycle) number of doses needed to breed 20 mares  =  98 Costs Per Ejaculate: collection & freeze processing  =  250,00 Euro Total No. Ejaculates Frozen: average 12 doses per ejaculate frozen  ~  9 ejaculates will yield 108 doses of semen Total Freezing Costs: for 9 ejaculates (3 weeks of freezing)  =  2.250,00 Euro Overall Total Cost Per Mare: excluding stallion boarding at Freezing Centre 108 doses at total cost of 2.250,00 Euro  =  20,80 Euro average cost/dose 20,80 Euro per dose at 5 doses per mare  =  104,10 Euro per mare TOTAL COST PER PREGNANT MARE  =  127,50 EURO This example illustrates how frozen semen can be used successfully in an AI program for the "average" stallion (average in terms of sperm production & freezability), being bred to a group of mares with normal fertility under good management conditions. Obviously, not all stallions are "average", and your stallion may produce more sperm per ejaculate and have higher fertility than was indicated in the example. This would decrease the time and money invested by the stallion owner to achieve better or comparable results. On the other hand, your stallion may produce fewer sperm or sperm that does not survive freezing and thawing well. This would increase your costs and may even make use of your stallion in a frozen semen program impractical. The first step is to have a semen freezing evaluation performed on your stallion. This evaluation period can include the processing of up to 3 or more ejaculates in order to properly evaluate a stallion's suitability for semen freezing. The number of evaluations performed varies with each stallion as does the amount of "fine tuning" required to achieve maximum post-thaw motility results. During this period we will determine which of the possible freezing techniques is most suitable for your stallion. Of course any semen processed during this period with the acceptable 30% post-thaw motility can be used to build your inventory.