Advances Outlined in Use of Sex Sorted Sperm

Research aimed at sorting the sex of sperm in an effort to increase the female to male ratio of piglets born per litter is proving successful. "Recent Advancements in Reproduction and Sex Sorted Sperm" was among the topics discussed yesterday as part of weekly online session of Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium 2020.

 

Dr. Brad Belstra, the Reproductive Services Manager with Fast Genetics, says the main goal of using sex sorted sperm is to produce liters with lots of gilts but very few boars.

 

 

Skewing the sex ratio of liters with sex sorted semen works. It closely matches the purity of the sample you use so there's no question about that piece. Advances to increase quality and quantity of sorted sperm are being made through software and hardware advances in sorting.

 

Surgical delivery of sex sorted sperm requires a much smaller dose. The improvements there are reducing the labor and making the process faster so we can do more animals and not require a large team to do that. That's one of our current objectives. The other one is to continue to push for uterine delivery of sex sorted sperm, which would be more similar to what people are used to today with conventional AI.

 

The keys there are using boar fertility to our advantage, precision delivery with ovulation and also the site that we place it at may help us reduce sperm dose further. As we make those discoveries and improvements, those could also be applied to non-sorted sperm and improve the genetic efficiency of conventional AI as well so that would be good for the whole industry, not just for sex sorted sperm.

Video: Same Grit, New Name: A Conversation with Ryan Calistro of Bower Ag

Swine Leaders Live, we sit down with Ryan Calistro, President of Bower Ag, to discuss a major brand transition in the ag construction and solutions space—and what it means for swine producers. Bower Ag represents a new, unified identity, bringing together Ag Property Solutions, Dairy Specialists, and The Dairy Solutions Group under one name. But as Ryan explains, this isn’t about change for the sake of change—it’s about strengthening what already works and delivering more value to producers.

We dive into:

• What Bower Ag is and why the transition was made

• What stays the same for longtime customers

• How combining multiple businesses creates new opportunities for producers

• What today’s producers are asking for—and how Bower Ag is responding

• Key insights heading into World Pork Expo

If you’ve worked with APS before—or are evaluating partners for your next project—this conversation provides a clear look at where Bower Ag is headed and how they’re positioning themselves for the future.