Equine Semen Freezing Services

The Equine Reproduction Laboratory at Colorado State University provides a commercial equine semen freezing and storage service. The objective of this service is to provide horse owners and veterinarians with the latest research and technology available for preserving and storing equine semen. This announcement provides a brief overview of the equine semen service provided by the Equine Reproduction Laboratory. For more complete details and a fee schedule, please contact the Equine Reproduction Laboratory at (970) 491-8626 (tel) or (970) 491-7005 (fax).

Semen collection, evaluation, preservation (freezing) and long-term storage of frozen semen is performed at the Equine Reproduction Laboratory. During the initial visit, a stallion undergoes a complete breeding soundness evaluation in order to detect any abnormalities that may interfere with fertility. The stallion's semen is frozen using two different semen-freezing techniques in order to determine the optimal method of freezing semen for each individual stallion. Aliquots of the semen frozen at the initial visit are thawed and evaluated for their response to the freezing procedure. Currently, semen frozen at the Equine Reproduction Laboratory is packaged in 0.5-ml straws, with 8 straws (800 million sperm cells) representing one insemination dose. Although there is tremendous variability between stallions, a typical ejaculate from a stallion will provide approximately 8 insemination doses (approximately 32 straws).

Once the optimal freezing protocol is identified, subsequent ejaculates from the stallion are frozen using that procedure. Stallions may be housed at the Equine Reproduction Laboratory until enough ejaculates are collected to provide the amount of frozen semen requested by the stallion owner. Once the semen is frozen, it can be stored at the Equine Reproduction Laboratory indefinitely or it can be transported to any other appropriate storage facility. Unless otherwise directed, all semen that is frozen is stored at the Equine Reproduction Laboratory.

Fee Schedule:
Initial test-freeze evaluation (weekdays only)	$ 500.00 **
Breeding Soundness Exam, Test cool and Test freeze	$ 1,050.00 (3 day stay)
Collection and freeze per ejaculate	$ 425.00
Collection and freeze for export per ejaculate	$ 475.00 **
Clean-out collection	$ 75.00
Unsuccessful or discarded semen collection	$ 75.00 / attempt
Freezing epididymal semen, up to 200 straws (includes a non-refundable setup fee of $250.00)	$ 700.00
Rental fee for Dry Shipper container	$ 75.00 **
Loading semen into Dry Shipper	$ 25.00 **
Charging of Dry Shipper	$ 25.00 **
Board for stallion	$ 20.00 / day **
Semen storage in liquid nitrogen, up to 250 straws per stallion	$ 25.00 / month **
Coggins (EIA) test	$ 16.00 **
Equine Viral Arteritis (EVA) testing serum	$ 25.00 **
Shipping cost is variable depending on destination	~ $ 300.00 - 800.00 **
Health certificates / Fed Vet Seal	$ 150.00 **
CEM (Taylorella asinigenitalis or T. equigenitalis)
VS (Vesicular stomatitis)	$18.00 **
EEE & WEE test	$ 52.50 **

** These services are for export of semen as well as commercial.
Each country has its own regulations and requirements for importing frozen stallion semen. These can be accessed at: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/ncie/iregs/animals, or contact Paula at 970-491-8626.