Safety Concerns in AI Management Practices

Last May I got a phone call which I knew it was only a matter of time that I would get; an AI technician was in hospital following a work related accident, through no fault of his own.

As a result for the first time in over ten years I had to blow the dust off AI guns and hit the road doing calls. And I have to say a lot has changed in the last ten years, long gone are the days of a bucket of clean water, soap and a clean towel, in fact let alone disinfectant there are a lot of farms without a hose to clean your boots before going to the next farm. While overall facilities have improved somewhat, some are flawed, a lot of new sheds and chutes went up in the farm waste management scheme, but I wonder where the department staff that approved these chutes were looking when they passed some of them, the biggest fault is some are far too wide, in fact I had a heifer managed to turn in a chute once. But overall safety is overlooked in a big way, my colleague gave me a simple backing bar to fit most chutes and to be honest I didn’t think I needed it, but without it I would not have managed in a lot of situations. Poor facilities result in poor performance and poor results, cows left in on their own, no backing bars, short notice and no help when you arrive on farm, while the majority of farmers in the area were more than helpful and facilities were up to scratch, it only takes one to make life both difficult and dangerous. In a lot of situations farmers would not go behind cows or try to handle them themselves, but yet they expect the AI technician to do so. So with this in mind I have listed top ten tips to help your AI technician and in turn help your herd’s performance.

 

Arthur Bredin (Progressive Genetics) – Top Ten Tips For AI

1. Be sure your cow is in heat. This may appear obvious but yet the amount of people who ask “is she on?” is astonishing.
2. Never leave a cow in on her own. A cow on her own can be very nervous no matter how quiet she is. When a stranger calls it can be a different story.
3. Have a proper backing bar available for the technician to restrain the cow.
4. Have a footbath for disinfectant purposes, or at least a hose to wash boots.
5. Have the cow for AI properly identified.
6. have the bull you require identified. With the number of bulls available for selection, it is almost impossible for a technician to have them all. So, at the start of the breeding season, talk to your technician about what you are going to use.
7. Always have the cow in before you put in your call. It often happens that a technician is in the area or calls and the cow is not yet in for AI.
8. Be sure your technician is fully licensed and, more importantly, fully insured. All Progressive Genetics technicians are fully insured.
9. If you have a cow that you know is hard to get into a head locking gate, leave a little meal in a bucket to entice her. The carrot is always better than the stick.
10. And last, and by no means least, get your call in as early as possible. This ensures that you will get the best possible service. An AI technician can only provide as good as he or she gets.

 

Arthur Bredin (Progressive Genetics & MED Partnership Member)

 

(Source – Original Text Published by The Irish Farmers Journal (Page 13) – Saturday, 02/11/2013)