Comparison of quality of bull semen collected in the artificial vagina or by electroejaculation

The artificial vagina has become the generally accepted method for collecting semen from bulls. It was invented by an Italian, Amantea (Willet 1956), in an attempt to increase the service of highly desirable sires. This was not a satisfactory method when using beef bulls to study the effects of radiation on sperm production at the UT-AEC Agricultural Research Laboratory. Two problems were encountered in attempting to use this method of collection. First, the percentage of untrained and unselected bulls that would serve the artificial vagina was relatively small; and second, it was difficult to obtain consistently timed collections. It was, therefore, necessary to have a large herd of bulls from which to select the desired number of experimental animals. The failure of selected bulls to ejaculate at scheduled intervals prompted the subsequent use of an electro-ejaculation technique in such investigations.

The ease and consistency of obtaining semen from bulls by electroejaculation is a a great aid In conducting experiments and can be used to obtain semen for breeding purposes when the male is unable or unwilling to serve the artificial vagina.

Despite the fact that a number of papers have been published describing electroejaculation techniques, few intensive comparisons of the characteristics of semen collected in the artificial vagina with that collected by electroejaculatIon have been reported.

The purpose of this investigation was to examine and compare the quality of semen collected by the artificial vagina and electroejaculation. By doing so, the results of studies on semen obtained by electroejaculation could then be compared more accurately with the results of other methods found in the literature.