By Corryn La Rue
This year Logan cattle producers chose to use artificial insemination more than ever. The process of artificial insemination, or AI, is used heavily in the Logan commercial cattle industry. This year marks the highest number of semen collections and AI process requests for Hoffman AI Breeders.
Hoffman AI Breeders, based out of Logan, has been in higher demand for services this year than recorded before.
Owner Doug Coombs said the past three years AI service requests have been unusually high, but 2016 marks the highest.
“Every year the amount of people wanting to do AI gets bigger,” Coombs said. “But really, a lot of the customers we work with are corporate owned, with a lot more volume.”
Coombs said he believes the reason for the spike in AI numbers is a reaction to high beef prices.
The process of artificial insemination, or AI, is a method used in the agriculture industry to breed livestock by injection of semen into the uterus of an animal by something other than the natural breeding process.
Utah State University’s Animal, Dairy & Veterinary Science Professor Lyle McNeal said he likes AI for confined or less extensive operations.
“It’s been a trending procedure to access genetics for improvement instead of buying live bulls,” McNeal said. “Live bulls are physically limited to the number of cows they can live mate.”
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