August 2015
Greetings from Animal Reproduction Systems!
With the rush of the 2015 breeding season coming to an end, Animal Reproduction Systems has reached the one year anniversary of moving into our new location at 13661 Benson Ave., Chino, CA. We are very pleased with how the facility is working out and look forward to releasing a few new products in the upcoming months. This newsletter will update our customers on new products, changes to existing product lines, shipping tips, and a photo contest for the cover of the 2016 catalog!
New Freezing Extenders Coming Soon from ARS
ARS is pleased to announce the release of our two latest E-Z Freezin® frozen semen extenders. These two new formulas, CryoMaxTM LE and CryoMaxTM MFR5, were developed in conjunction with Colorado State University and initial testing was performed at their Equine Reproduction Laboratory. During the 2015 breeding season, a majority of client stallion semen was cryopreserved at CSU using one of the new CryoMaxTM freezing extenders.
Preliminary data showed that overall, the new CryoMaxTM equine semen freezing extenders improved post-thaw total and progressive motility by an average of 10 % over other commercially available extenders. In addition, the new CryoMaxTM extenders yielded a markedly higher post-thaw motility in five stallions with low post-thaw progressive motility (< 35 %) when frozen in their original extenders. Post-thaw progressive motility in the poor-freezer stallions improved from 30 % to 58 %, for an average improvement of 28 %.
It should be noted that post-thaw motility and potential for fertility with frozen thawed semen are not necessarily synonymous. Although most of the semen frozen with the new CryoMaxTM extenders is destined to be used in future breeding seasons, four mares were bred using CryoMaxTM frozen semen and three became pregnant on their first cycle.
Overall, the new CryoMaxTM series of equine semen freezing extenders demonstrated superior post-thaw sperm motility in 73 % of stallions (8 out of 11) as compared to other commercially available extenders.
E-Z Freezin® CryoMaxTM LE and CryoMaxTM MFR5 extenders will be available for general sale November 2015. For those who can't wait to try these new extenders, ask our sales staff about availability of pre-production batches of this extender.
Freezing Extenders Shipping and Packaging Change
All formulas of E-Z Freezin frozen semen extenders will now be sold in convenient 5-packs with simplified pricing. Starting in August 2015, Animal Reproduction Systems will no longer be charging additional box packaging fees for these products. In addition, the pricing structure will now be the same as other ARS products allowing this product to be ordered on our website!
Stay tuned for details on www.arssales.com
Smart Shipping to Lower Costs
There have been several changing made by UPS and FedEx this past year that has affected the cost of shipping products to our customers. As of the start of 2015, both major services now use dimensional weight to determine cost for all shipments. For our customers, this means that large low weight products like, centrifuge tubes, collection bottles, and disposable shipping containers are considered to be heavier than their true weight when calculating shipping costs. Our customers who ship cooled semen across country have noticed this as well when shipping their product overnight.
Planning ahead is the most important consideration for saving money with shipping charges. Have all bulky items shipped ground service when possible to save on shipping! If an item needs to be rushed, have a small number sent overnight and send the remainder by ground. One customer who needed collection bottles the next day purchased 25 bottles for overnight shipment and 100 bottles to be send ground for far less than the cost of sending 100 bottles overnight as they originally planned.
Disposable Insemination Tubes and A.V. Fill Thermometers
Animal Reproduction has made changes to how it sells Sterilized Disposable Insemination Tubes. We have reduced the quantity in each package from 100 to 25 individually packaged insemination tubes.
After a long hiatus, the A.V. Fill Thermometer is now back in stock and available for immediate shipping.
UPS and FedEx collect shipment handling fees
To keep the costs low for all customers, a handling fee will be charged on all collect shipments to cover the cost of boxes, tape, and packing. Animal Reproduction Systems will charge a handling fee of $10 for UPS and $20 for FedEx on all outbound collect shipments.
Photo Contest for our new Catalog Cover
Our 2016 catalog is under construction, and we would love to showcase some of our client's horses.
We are looking for a cover girl, and her foal. Here is your chance to show off your beautiful mare and her 2015 foal. Photo needs to be in sharp focus, with a simple, attractive background (green pasture, spring blooms, snow capped barn, etc...).
We are also looking for a few special stallions, of all sizes, to include inside our catalog. After all, size does matter, which is why we sell a.v.'s in four different lengths! Conformation shots are great, or show us your stallion in action.
Photos must be high-resolution, digital, and Copyright free. If the photos were taken by a professional photographer, we must have a signed letter authorizing our use.
Photo credit will be given for the photographer.
Please email your photo entries to: kathy@arssales.com. Photos must be high definition digital to provide a sharp image in print. Deadline for images is midnight, PST, on Thursday, September 25th, 2015. Winners will receive bragging rights and photo credit for your horses, farm, and photographer.
We sure have enjoyed seeing so many adorable foal photos this spring. Cuteness aside, it is wonderful to see a new generation representing the best characteristics of their breeds. They provide a very positive outlook for our equine industry future.
Congratulations to each of you for striving for excellence in your breeding programs. We are proud to assist you with this commendable endeavor.
ARS on Social Media
Like us on Facebook for updates on our summer specials, and product announcements.
Learning Center - Urospermia or urine in the sperm
By Patrick M. McCue, DVM, PhD,
Diplomate American College of Theriogenologists
The semen collection was supposed to be traditional and uneventful. An 18 year old stallion was being collected as part of an every-other-day schedule during the breeding season. So far this year all of the collections had been routine and predictable. We would tease him briefly to the jump mare, wash off his penis and he would eagerly mount the phantom for collection and ejaculate normally.
However, when he dismounted today his semen was larger in volume than usual and yellow colored. The stallion had urinated during the collection procedure. The semen was examined and the progressive motility was only 30 %, instead of the usual 85 %. Measurement of semen pH and osmolality revealed values of 7.94 and 773 mOsm, respectively. The normal pH and osmolality for semen from this stallion were approximately 7.25 to 7.3 and 320 to 330, respectively. There was sufficient urine contamination in this collection to make the entire ejaculate unusable.
Read more...
Dr. Patrick M McCue and other authors have provided articles for our ARS Learning Center.
Please visit www.arssales.com/equine for additional information.
For more information call us at 1-800-300-5143 or visit our web site at www.arssales.com.
Comments/questions/suggestions - e-mail them to sales@arssales.com
To unsubscribe from this list simply reply to this message or send an E-mail to: unsubscribe-ars-update@listbox.com
Click here to view this page in your web browser.
ARS Update
Animal Reproduction Systems Newsletter
Animal Reproduction Systems
800-300-5143
