Glacier FarmMedia – In the summer of 2024, a visit to the Grégoire Fortin Farm in Charlevoix, QC was an opportunity to see how insemination is done with the Eye Breed.
This equipment was deployed by the Centre d’insémination artificielle du Québec (CIAQ) in the Charlevoix region to compensate for the lack of inseminators. Eye Breed is made by AXCE, a company based in France.
Ancelin Martin of Ferme Grégoire Fortin in Clermont was one of the first to use the device in Quebec with the help of trainer Julie Bouchard, who is also a dairy producer at Ferme Pérou in Baie-Saint-Paul.
“I wouldn’t have done insemination without it,” the young producer says today. After learning it, he taught the technique to his father-in-law, Bernard Fortin.
Insemination with the Eye Breed is less invasive for the cow and easier for the inseminator because the latter does not have to put his arm into the cow. Instead, a camera guides him.
Here are the steps to insemination in photos:
The preparation of the straw is done in the same way as in traditional insemination.
At the end of this step, the straw inserted into the metal inseminator is ready and is kept warm by Ancelin Martin.
Bernard prepares the cow by disinfecting the vulva.
A camera and a light at the end of the inseminator will guide the manipulations.
The equipment is designed so that one person can inseminate alone. The camera hanging from Bernard’s neck helps him aim the inseminator inside the cow’s vagina.
When the suction cup at the end of the gun is attached to the cervix using a vacuum, Bernard can insert the metal inseminator rod with the semen straw into the Eye Breed.
Aided by the camera image visible on his phone, Bernard directs the straw through the rings of the cow’s cervix.
That’s it! The straw has passed through the cervix. The semen can be deposited.
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