Do you own a semen tank? Advise?

[Jheregvonmunch]

Hi, we’re a small to medium sized breeding facility and Im currently paying about $300 a quarter for a facility to keep our semen on ice.

I have been toying with the idea of purchasing my own tank but I have no idea how they work, I know I need to keep them filled with LN and refill it periodically depending on the tank, are there any other pros or cons I should know about?

I see new smaller MVE tanks for around $600, used I saw one for $300, is it cheaper and less stressful for me to leave it where it is or in the long run its cost effective for me to get my own tank?

Thoughts?

[Daventry]

For us, purchasing our own MVE tank was the right decision. With some help from Kathy, we purchased this model:
http://store.sementanks.com/xcmilleniumtank.aspx

We store semen from three different stallions in it. At Kathy’s advice, we found a local guy who keeps all of the cattle industry tanks filled, and he stops by approximately once every two months to fill it for us. We pay about $250/year for that service and have absolutely NO other expenses…except for the initial purchase of the tank.

[nls]

yes, we have our own and I find it much simpler. It gets filled by ABS probably about quarterly and that costs $65. Our driver just shows up, gets the tank and fills it. I bought a new one and it does not lose much nitrogen. We did do a lot of the inseminations on the farm and it is easier to always know we have the semen available and there is no chance of a shipping foul-up. I used to store it at the university and missed some ovulations that we had followed when they did not get the semen to me in time. I also had a dose lost that I was counting on. You don’t have those shipping costs for the vapor shipper as well. My tank is small enough that two people can easily lift it to put it in the trailer dressing room if we want to do the insemination at the vet clinic. We had some poorly frozen straws explode at 2:00 a.m. once. A dose was 4 straws and 19 in a row exploded on thawing. It was great to have a Plan B, where I could check my book, see what other straws were in the tank, pick an appropriate stallion and proceed.

[HyperionStudLLC]

[QUOTE=Daventry;6276917]
For us, purchasing our own MVE tank was the right decision. With some help from Kathy, we purchased this model:
http://store.sementanks.com/xcmilleniumtank.aspx

This is a good site with no shipping fees and low tank costs. I’ve bought many tank from them and all worth it! LN storage tanks are easy to take care of. Make sure you keep LN in the tanks and check your tanks regularly. Get a measure stick, gloves and eye protection. We went so far as to buy a LN tank so we can keep that full with LN and refill that without moving the storage tanks.

Good Luck

[tveley]

We have our own tank. I am overly cautious so it is filled every month during breeding season and 2 months in the off season. The cost is $40 per fill. I definitely would recommend it.

[Equine_Reproduction]

[QUOTE=Jheregvonmunch;6276897]
Hi, we’re a small to medium sized breeding facility and Im currently paying about $300 a quarter for a facility to keep our semen on ice.

I have been toying with the idea of purchasing my own tank but I have no idea how they work, I know I need to keep them filled with LN and refill it periodically depending on the tank, are there any other pros or cons I should know about?

I see new smaller MVE tanks for around $600, used I saw one for $300, is it cheaper and less stressful for me to leave it where it is or in the long run its cost effective for me to get my own tank?

Thoughts?[/QUOTE]

Don’t buy used. You don’t know how the tank has been treated. Buy a name brand tank such as MVE or Taylor Wharton. The site that Daventry posted is a great company with reasonable prices. Make sure you keep the tank OFF the concrete or floor…place it either on a “dolly” or on blocks of wood. Dip weekly. Fill regularly. Put the tank somewhere that you will walk by it daily. If it frosts up, panic. You can use a local welding supply company for filling if you can’t find a company such as ABS that is on a route that can come to you. Price for nitrogen will vary considerably. We’ve paid as low as $1/liter and as high as $4/liter. Good luck!

[Daventry]

@Equine Reproduction;6277495

Make sure you keep the tank OFF the concrete or floor…place it either on a “dolly” or on blocks of wood.

I didn’t know that. Ours is sitting in my office on a carpeted floor with in-floor heating below. Why should they be up?

[Tasker]

[QUOTE=Daventry;6277578]
I didn’t know that. Ours is sitting in my office on a carpeted floor with in-floor heating below. Why should they be up?[/QUOTE]

Condensation will eventually cause the bottom to rust. MVE sells a dolly or you can make one out of plywood and heavy duty casters.

FWIW we store our semen at SBS. We have a tank for stallions not frozen by them (had it before we moved all our semen to them) and then they have our SBS frozen in one of their giant storage tanks. And they do the inventory/checks on a set schedule. Their tank room is the quietest stallion barn you have ever been in! :winkgrin: We also own a vapor shipper which allows for transport back and forth without a rental fee (still pay for packaging & the fill up). For us, it is piece of mind that there is a standard of maintenance/care/control. I had a less than a year old vapor shipper (MVE) that was not sealing well and under warranty. SBS took care of the return for me after it had failed an in-house test. If it had been here at the house and we were using it to ship out to clients, well, I probably wouldn’t have noticed and could have potentially cost a client their conception/cost of however many doses were inside. Too much of an additional headache to have that added to the list of things to manage.

[hluing]

I think it depends on your volume and set up. I bought a tank and a dry shipper and ended up only using it for a short time. It actually turned out to be around the same cost for me to store the semen with my vet and a whole lot less hassle. However, I have a specialized repro vet 20 min away and take my mares there for frozen semen breedings anyway.

If I ever sell Burberry and freeze a large volume of his semen…I may break out the tank again;) Short of that…I will leave the semen with my vet. I will add that my tank worked great!

[paulamc]

If you are paying that much to store the semen at your vets - sounds exorbitant, then yes get your own tank

also if you do all your inseminations at home, its much easier this way
If your vet does them at his facility, at least you know that your semen is in your tank and no one else will be going in there to get other semen and potentially take out your semen and put it back again

Different tanks have different holding periods, you can choose what suits you

Paulamc

[Equine_Reproduction]

[QUOTE=Daventry;6277578]
I didn’t know that. Ours is sitting in my office on a carpeted floor with in-floor heating below. Why should they be up?[/QUOTE]

What Tasker said. Condensation causes the bottom of the tank to corrode. On a carpeted floor, you should be fine.

For most, unless you are dealing with MULTIPLE doses from MULTIPLE stallions, a 20 liter tank will be more than adequate. We “do” recommend putting different stallions in different canisters and if you need to, divide your canisters in order to keep the boys separate…Helps to avoid mistakes like Tasker’s other post on here re: the stallion that’s NOT by Romanov :D!

[Home_Again_Farm]

I recently closed out my two tanks when I discovered that my vet would store the semen for only a little more than my cost of maintenance. That way the semen is always there, rather than my having to take my tank to the clinic.

I have the MVE SC 20/20 and the MVE Millenium XC 20. I bought the first one used in 2001 (the previous owner was a well known client to my vet and I had the tank thoroughly vetted by a tank maintenance specialist). The second I bought new from sementanks.com.

I am hoping to sell mine. They have been very carefully maintained.

[Equine_Reproduction]

[QUOTE=Home Again Farm;6278098]
I recently closed out my two tanks when I discovered that my vet would store the semen for only a little more than my cost of maintenance. That way the semen is always there, rather than my having to take my tank to the clinic.

I have the MVE SC 20/20 and the MVE Millenium XC 20. I bought the first one used in 2001 (the previous owner was a well known client to my vet and I had the tank thoroughly vetted by a tank maintenance specialist). The second I bought new from sementanks.com.

I am hoping to sell mine. They have been very carefully maintained.[/QUOTE]

^^^^Talk to her :)…her tanks I’m SURE have been properly maintained. Just don’t go on ebay and buy a used tank…It may very well turn out fine, but it may very well be the very worst investment you ever made ;).

[Home_Again_Farm]

@Equine Reproduction;6278148

^^^^Talk to her :)…her tanks I’m SURE have been properly maintained. Just don’t go on ebay and buy a used tank…It may very well turn out fine, but it may very well be the very worst investment you ever made ;).

I think you misunderstood me. :winkgrin: I am closing out my own tanks and selling them. Too much sleep deprivation. :winkgrin:

[Equine_Reproduction]

[QUOTE=Home Again Farm;6278253]
I think you misunderstood me. :winkgrin: I am closing out my own tanks and selling them. Too much sleep deprivation. :winkgrin:[/QUOTE]

Nope…I understood perfectly. What I MEANT was that your used tanks are probably just fine to purchase. We don’t normally recommend buying used tanks unless you know EXACTLY how they’ve been maintained. But yeah…sleep deprivation is a terrible thing!

[Home_Again_Farm]

Oh, now I understand. I am sleep deprived today too. :winkgrin:

[sixpoundfarm]

[QUOTE=Equine Reproduction;6278148]
^^^^Talk to her :)…her tanks I’m SURE have been properly maintained. Just don’t go on ebay and buy a used tank…It may very well turn out fine, but it may very well be the very worst investment you ever made ;).[/QUOTE]

Haha, I did exactly this, and got a great price on a barely used tank. Gamblers luck I guess! LOLOL.

Also gambled on buying a used vapor shipper off Craigslist, and while its older, it still works fine.
Not advocating it, but its been done.

I spend about $85 a year to keep mine topped off, and I have the MVE Millenum XC 20. There are lots of dairy’s in WI, and I am fortunate to be on a regular route for one of the local nitrogen guys. He comes every 3 months and fills it, but I do dip it regularly.