Artificial insemination is a growing technique being utilized within the agricultural sector primarily with livestock. Farmers regardless of their education level have a basic concept of the importance of good genetics, and that is at the forefront of the use of artificial insemination – to ensure the transfer of favorable genes.
Other pros of artificial insemination is that there is not the need to have the sire on hand to mate the dam with. In the cattle sector it can be very costly to have a bull and while some still prefer to have a bull on hand, some farmers prefer to just outsource, enabling them to change sires more consistently and quickly.
Before proceeding further, let’s take a minute to learn the basics of DNA and why it matters. DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid, is composed of four nucleotide base structures “A, T, G, and C”. A is Adenine, T is Thymine, C is Cytosine, and G is Guanine, and also A and G are purines which means that their structure is a double ring shape whereas, T and C are pyrimidines, containing only a single ring. The central dogma of molecular biology being DNA to RNA to protein, that’s it. In the breeding realm you need the right DNA to make the right RNA’s to make the correct proteins which helps with gene expressions and overall performance and so on, which is very important.
Artificial insemination is currently limited to only a few species of livestock, mainly consisting of cattle, goats, sheep, pigs, and a few other species. Plants do not fall within the realm of artificial insemination but they absolutely can be selectively pollinated by human-assistance and is commonly done in commercial vegetable and flower companies. One example being tomato farmers.
Special cases of artificial insemination are honey bees which in actuality are instrumentally inseminated and the difference primarily is the added level of complexity and also the need for additional instruments to carry out the insemination process.
The use of artificial insemination techniques in agriculture has given rise to some level of uncertainty and have made some farmers more nervous to take up this switch. But there are some really good reasons to consider incorporating it into your breeding program, one of them being for cattle farmers is that it can be dangerous and costly having bulls on hand. Bulls are notorious for causing destructive complications in the pursuit of female cattle. In swine, boars can be dangerous to both female swine, and also the people involved, they are very aggressive and powerful animals. The mating process for swine can also be a big factor for switching to
artificial insemination because boars are usually very heavy and robust animals and when they mount a female he can hurt her and often in more ways than one. His hooves can easily cut into the backs of the female which can lead to infection, if he is too much larger than her, he can harm her from a structural standpoint. So in some instances having a male on hand can be more of a financial burden than a relief, regardless of the species.
The livestock breeding industry is ever-constantly changing and shifting and so the rise in use of techniques such as artificial insemination are only going to increase. The need to change genetics in operations won’t change either and having males on hand complicates and restricts that capability, which isn’t a huge issue for a small time farmer, but on a commercial level it is a huge issue. Let us discuss for a moment a few of the obstacles with artificial insemination, which range from technique complexity to financial constraints both of which can be major obstacles and turn offs to small scale farmers. Some animals such as cattle usually require you to be certified to artificially inseminate, though many carry it out without being certified.
As aforementioned, financially it can be a hindrance because of the expensive equipment involved
and semen in particular is usually expensive so it can limit who has access to this option.
So in conclusion artificial insemination can be a powerful technique to improve the genetics of one's stock and if it is within one’s ability to acquire. It is a wise investment, after all, the aim of any farmer regardless of business level is to improve their stock to achieve better results.
