Frozen Semen Brokers

[Donella]

I have used a couple of different brokers and have been very pleased with Carol @SES . She is friendly, knowledgeable, professional and she sends the semen right up to Alta Genetics which is a few hours from my place. Pretty hard to beat.

I also enjoyed doing business with Doug @ Rideauwood. He is very professional.

A few weeks ago I bought some semen from another broker because as far as I can tell there is nowhere else to buy this particular stallions semen. I was told it came in two MACRO straws and I double checked this as I had been warned about this broker already. It gets here this morning and one dose is actually two of the tiny micro straws ie 0.5 ml ! Broker claims to not know the difference between macro and micro straws. Broker did offer to refund my money but I would have to recharge the dry shipper and then ship the semen back out across the country and of course my mare is now coming into heat.

[rodawn]

[QUOTE=Donella;6443268]

A few weeks ago I bought some semen from another broker because as far as I can tell there is nowhere else to buy this particular stallions semen. I was told it came in two MACRO straws and I double checked this as I had been warned about this broker already. It gets here this morning and one dose is actually two of the tiny micro straws ie 0.5 ml ! Broker claims to not know the difference between macro and micro straws. Broker did offer to refund my money but I would have to recharge the dry shipper and then ship the semen back out across the country and of course my mare is now coming into heat.[/QUOTE]

That’s a puzzle, because every shipment comes with an inventory of exactly what # and size of straws are provided. Is this broker going to provide you with the rest of the dose in the future or is this broker now saying that two 0.5 mL straws is actually a dose (better be some spectacularly motile sperm)? Most doses using the 0.5 mL straws are 3-4 straws, even sometimes 8!

[Hillside_H_Ranch]

I’ve never heard of a dose of frozen being two Macro straws (generally it is one Macro straw). However, I suppose it depends upon the numbers. That being said, I’ve bought semen from several stallions where a dose is actually only 2 of the 0.5 ml straws. So I suppose either scenario is possible…

[Donella]

When I inquired about the # of straws per dose I was told “two”. I then wrote back and asked if they were the big macro straws or the small straws because I remember a few years ago Contendro 1 came in the macro straws. He straight up told me that he is frozen with the big straws.

[Hillside_H_Ranch]

[QUOTE=Donella;6444583]
When I inquired about the # of straws per dose I was told “two”. I then wrote back and asked if they were the big macro straws or the small straws because I remember a few years ago Contendro 1 came in the macro straws. He straight up told me that he is frozen with the big straws.[/QUOTE]

So we are talking about Contendro in this case? I bred to Contendro three years ago and the dose at that time was two of the 0.5 ml straws. I had a separate issue, in that several of the straws that we tried to use exploded while being thawed, but we did eventually get 1 straw to thaw successful and bred the mare with that 1/2 dose. She did become pregnant.

[Krallen]

Donella, I’ve bought the .5cc straws where one straw was the whole dose. Mare got pregnant. Now that I’ve started doing my own breeding, I really like the .5cc straw dose. Unless your straws don’t hold enough sperm to meet the requirements for getting the mare pregnant, I don’t know why I’d want to send them back for a refund.

[Donella]

Good to know the semen is good…I am not wanting to send it back I am just a bit frustrated at being misled.