Animal health technicians and agricultural experts say artificial insemination offers communal, emerging and commercial farmers a cost-effective way to improve cattle herd genetics without the high cost of purchasing and maintaining elite breeding bulls.

The breeding method allows farmers to produce offspring with desirable traits such as faster growth rates, increased milk production and higher carcass quality. Animal health technicians Tshepo Tshwaedi and Reint Grobler have been offering artificial insemination services to farmers in the North West.

Tshwaedi explained the process involved extracting semen from a selected superior bull and placing it into a cow that had been synchronised to be in heat.

“We extract semen from the bull, the superior bull that has been chosen. After extracting that semen, we carefully place it in a synchronised cow that is in oestrus or on heat, so we carefully place it inside the reproductive system of the cow so that conception can then take place,” Tshwaedi said.

He said the primary motivation for using artificial insemination was to access the best available genetics to improve the quality of calves produced on the farm.

“The reason why we do this is that we are looking for the best genes that we can get for the farm and also to improve the carcasses of the cows — or rather, the calves — that we are going to get,” Tshwaedi said.

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Grobler said the semen used in the procedure was sourced from registered stud breeders and bulls approved for artificial insemination, giving farmers access to animals with a proven performance record.

“But everybody cannot buy a bull for two hundred thousand. So it enables the farmer to get this supreme genetics with his cattle, and he’s going to win better because when you look in the catalogue, you see which bulls weaned and grew the best, and the milk production of their mothers. So it’s not just the growth — it’s going to increase the milk production of your future calves,” Grobler said.

Herd manager Mogotsi Kgaswane said careful record-keeping and ongoing monitoring were essential to the success of the procedure.

“I write down the progress of the cows after insemination. When the technicians come back, I update them on how the cows are doing. They then check them to make sure everything is progressing well and confirm whether they are pregnant,” Kgaswane said.

Small-scale village farmer Daniel Luka said he turned to artificial insemination after realising the cost of maintaining a breeding bull, and encouraged other village farmers to consider the option.

“In our village, there’s a shortage of breeding bulls. If a cow does not give birth for a whole year, it’s a big loss because every cow should produce a calf each year to help the farmer grow the herd and earn an income,” Luka said.

Commercial farmer Obakeng Mfikwe said artificial insemination levelled the playing field by giving smaller operators the same access to elite genetics previously available only to well-established commercial operations.

“Because if you have got people who have been in the game for a very, very long time and they have basically had access to very expensive bulls and very old genetics, you are then afforded the same opportunity if you can get access to those bulls,” Mfikwe said.

Experts said the success of artificial insemination depended on the combined efforts of skilled technicians, proper herd health management and adequate farm infrastructure.

Story by: Tsholofelo Sekwena