Question about Seman Tank

[mainecattlemother]

We are in the market to purchase a good used semen tank.  We have been sharing one for some time with a neighbor and want to purchase our own.  Are there any issues we should be aware of and any suggestions of good or bad brands.  What should we be looking for?

 

[obie105]

I bought one 2 years ago off of craigslist for next to nothing. The advice I was given was before placing semen in it fill it up with nitrogen and then watch it for a couple of months before throwing semen in it so your not out the money of semen if it doesnt hold right. I got an older mve and I like it.

 

[leanbeef]

I bought one 2 years ago off of craigslist for next to nothing. The advice I was given was before placing semen in it fill it up with nitrogen and then watch it for a couple of months before throwing semen in it so your not out the money of semen if it doesnt hold right. I got an older mve and I like it.

I think that's great advice! I was thinking our better tank is an MVE. I need to find a replacement for my other tank.

 

[Mueller Show Cattle]

I bought one 2 years ago off of craigslist for next to nothing. The advice I was given was before placing semen in it fill it up with nitrogen and then watch it for a couple of months before throwing semen in it so your not out the money of semen if it doesnt hold right. I got an older mve and I like it.

Ditto, did the same thing. I bought a used 20/20 tank off craigslist a couple years ago for $300 that is in great shape and was close to where I live. It was dry and had been for a year, so I took a shot with it. I filled it and waited 3 months before putting semen in it to monitor it to make sure it had the same evaporation rate as the manufacture had posted which it did.

 

[New Showman]

If I wanna AI 20 cows a year how big of a tank do I buy? I plan to buy 20-40 at a time, and how much does it cost?

 

[Mueller Show Cattle]

If I wanna AI 20 cows a year how big of a tank do I buy? I plan to buy 20-40 at a time, and how much does it cost?

I would buy a MVE 20/20, same tank that I own. It holds 540 straws which is way more than you need for 20 cows. But I AI 20 head also and it is more than I need but all the tanks out there except shipping tank hold that many straws. You can buy a 10 liter tank that still holds 540 straws (6 canisters) but you are going to be refilling your nitrogen more often. The MVE 20/20 is $999 new and I bought mine in really good shape off craigslist for $300. Look around you might find a good deal out there. Before I bought my tank, I had all my semen shipped to my vet who held my semen cause he did all my AI work, after I went to AI school, I bought a tank. Having 6 canisters makes it nice keeping your semen separated if you want to use many different bulls which I like to do so I use all 6 canisters with a couple canisters having multiple bulls in it and I put a list with cane codes and what canister holds what semen written on a piece of paper taped to the bottom of the lid of the tank, when it is open it is easy to read and pull semen.

 

[Mainevent]

I bought one off of here, for a lot cheaper than it would have been new, it is a millennium tank that runs like new and its 10 years old.

 

[obie105]

Mine is a mve sc 20/20 I got it for $80. Worth the money. Google used semen tanks. There are several places that sell them plus look around on craigslists and classified. Many times dispersals will sell their tanks too.

 

[leanbeef]

If I wanna AI 20 cows a year how big of a tank do I buy? I plan to buy 20-40 at a time, and how much does it cost?

You're probably thinking 5 or 600 straw capacity is WAY more tank than you'll ever need, but keep in mind it's the number of canes it holds that's important...more so than the number of straws. Each cane will hold up to 10 straws of semen, and you can't mix bulls in a cane, so a tank that holds 540 straws will hold about 54 canes...that's probably allowing for about 9 canes in each canister, which might get a little tight. Also keep in mind that you probably won't use every straw you buy every year, and you'll want to order new bulls the next year, so you have a way of accumulating semen on bulls you thought you'd use more of. A tank this size fills up faster than you might think! And you really don't wanna ever be completely full anyway...you always wanna have a little room to make it easier to handle canes and to give you space when you need it for that next great bull!

 

[New Showman]

I think an MVE 20/20 sounds good. because Im gonna order 20+ a year and use almost all of it the year I buy it unless there is a really good volume discount and then I might have to buy that O0

 

[New Showman]

http://www.agtechinc.com/store/product.php?productid=1338&cat=254&page=1

I don't mind buying a new one so how does this one sound? Is it too expensive for what it is?

 

[GoWyo]

New one $750

http://store.sementanks.com/mvesc2020.aspx

 

[leanbeef]

http://store.sementanks.com/xcmilleniumtank.aspx

 

[BRdoc]

IMO the best buy out there is the MVE XC Millenium. Sementanks.com was a past sponsor of this site and has very fast shipping and the best price you will find. I believe the XC is now $561 with free shipping. I bought a tank from them 3 yrs ago. As posted above, you want alot of storage. I have accumulated quite alot of semen in those 3 yrs.

http://sementanks.com/

 

[jagerbeef]

you may think that you will never fill a tank with only twenty cows, but I filled my and I only have 15 cows.  You'll find bulls on discount and get five straws use a couple and then you have three straws taking up room in your tank.  Or a bull that worked for someone else and then never worked on your own cows.  I had that with hannibal he died and everyone said how good he was and i bought a bunch and he didn't come close to working for me and now I have it taking up room in the tank.

 

[firesweepranch]

http://store.sementanks.com/xcmilleniumtank.aspx

This is the tank we have, bought it brand new through Genex (after hubby completed the AI class) about 4 years ago. It seems to hold for around 90 days, not 140 like advertised. But we get in it daily during breeding season, sometimes twice a day. Last time we filled it (earlier this month) it was down to 14 cm and had just been filled 77 days earlier. But we finished breeding for fall, so we were in it a lot. I check it about every other week, and our ABS rep is good about getting out and filling it when it gets low. Not sure what everyone else experience is with holding time on these.