06.11.2020
Written by Olivier Couture.
“Small is beautiful,” is the title of a collection of essays published in the 70’s that argued against the loss of craft and skill and described the downfall of generic products and economies of scale.
I parallel this philosophy to the evolution of dairy and meat production worldwide. While cows are more and more productive in terms of milk or meat, their reproductive life has become shorter with generally decreasing pregnancy rates as parities increase. Only heifers seem to stay almost reliably, reproductively sound. This is one of the reasons why worldwide we have seen an increase in the relative percentage of replacement heifers in technified herds.
But with heifers come different reproductive challenges, some of them associated to the act of AI (artificial insemination). Smaller females have much narrower cervices, and a propensity to be less tolerant to the act of AI.
With this in mind during my tenure as global director of marketing for IMV Technologies, I thought that we had the know-how to help both the inseminator and the animal. The inseminator, to have a faster, better and easier process and insemination. That is what I called precision AI. And the heifer, by promoting its well-being with the use of a smaller and more precise tool for its breeding. In my opinion, less time spent on breeding her would be better for her.
Today, IMV offers the Top Bull Sheath. Albeit only 11 percent smaller in diameter than a regular AI sheath, this may just make a world of difference with heifers. All of our breeding technicians trialing the product, on Bos taurus or Bos indicus, report increased ease of use when using this sheath, and its applicator, on heifers.
With AI with mini straws becoming the standard around the world, the Top Bull Sheath, which is compatible with mini straws only, is differentiated, crafted especially for heifers.
With the Top Bull Sheath and applicator, IMV Technologies intends to promote precision into AI. The heifer is not an average cow therefore, the average sheath won’t do. AI technicians bring craft and skill into their work and the TBS is one way to secure this. Small is indeed beautiful.
To learn more about the Top Bull Sheath, click here.
The views expressed in IMV Technologies’ blog do not necessarily represent the views of the IMV Technologies Group but solely those of the blog post’s author
