OLD bull semen codes?

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kfacres

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Picked up a bunch of semen today to try and figure out what it is...  Most likely is either old shorthorn, maine, or holstein.  Really hate to have to thaw out a straw to ID it.  Could be as old as the '70s.


94N (AMPS)
SS63
SP15 Cadinal?

and other's I haven't begun to figure out yet.
 

kfacres

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Update on the bulls in question:

all in amps, and without thawing it out, this is as good as I can get.
pink color
MR STL BEAT  805234 or 804234

yellow color
cane top 94N
09 WKM collected 3-22-78

clear/ white color
I think the can top is ?0A9
WB 28 GV03 or 13
Lucky 13 or 18
collected 9-28-73.

unfortunately, I have no idea what this is, since all the tops are worn off.. and so more than likely I'm going to donate it to WIU for the beef class to see and learn with. 
 

Cowboy

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The GV-13 bull stands for Gelbvieh. The Lucky bull was imported early on, along with bulls like Helau and a few others. That is or was excellent semen, I actually used it while I was at Valhalla Ranch in the early 80's. of course it was all in ampules.

Need more info on the other two - sorry

Terry
 

kfacres

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Cowboy said:
The GV-13 bull stands for Gelbvieh. The Lucky bull was imported early on, along with bulls like Helau and a few others. That is or was excellent semen, I actually used it while I was at Valhalla Ranch in the early 80's. of course it was all in ampules.
Need more info on the other two - sorry
Terry

that's awesome to figure out one of the bulls.  Last night I had also got the idea that the bull could have been a Gelv- and ended up finding this bull, attached below.  Does this look right to you?  The date of birth, and collection dates would match up for a young bull getting collected.  Do you think that this stuff would have any merit to anyone of today?  Obviously not worth 5 cents to me. 

Would you have any idea why one cane top says 94N?  Could that be a tattoo?  What breed is "N"? 

Do you know anything about the two shorthorn bulls?

One more question for an AI expert.  I have three, what appear to be single straws the size of drinking straws (1/4" x 10 inches).  They appear to be single AI straws, inside a plastic coating.  A friend of mine thought these might be "French style"?  But he did not know for sure, they were in the tank when he bought it, and he never used anything like it.  My question is, is this true, and how would you breed a cow using them? 
 

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Cowboy

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That  IS  the p;d Lucky bull we used so many years ago. I am surprised that the GV folks have updated his EPD's after all these years.

Sorry, I have very limited experience with alot fo the old SS bulls. Maybe JIT could help you there.

Concerning those wierd looking plastic ""Straws" you mention -- they may very well be the old French original imports from the 70's as they were looking to morph away from the Amps -- OR -- hehehe -- they kind of sound like the famous ""Majic Wands"" was first exposed to as a road tech for Midwest Breeders Co-op in the mid 70's. The looked like smaller versions of todays infusion pippettes -- and the semen was simply frozen in them with one end heat sealed before freezing. To inseminate a cow with these, you would simply pull one from the tank, and immediately clip the sealed end off with a dog toe nail clipper. Also immediately - you would squeeze one of those black rubber caps about half way  and slide it onto the clipped end before it got the chance to start to thaw. Alot of the itme, we would get to th ecow before any of the semen was even liquid in the pipe.

Things were done differently back then, as air thaw or at least partially air thawed was the rule, and the cow would finish the warming process. My commercial conception, in small diary herds usually one or two at a time was over 75% -- that is phenominal for today's dairy's -- it just simply worked like crazy. Lots of years ago -- that was in 1975 thru 1979 -- WOW

Thats about all I can help you with -- thanks for the memories!!!

Terry
 
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