♪ (music) ♪
One of the first great biotechnologies
that improved reproduction in farm animals
was artificial insemination termed AI.
The concept has been adopted
into the management of farm animals
over recent years.
Artificial insemination is the process
of breeding a female animal
in the absence of the male.
Semen is collected from a male
and transferred into a female by a human technician.
Today artificial insemination has been widely
adopted in the management of many farm species,
especially dairy cattle and swine.
It has also led to the creation and adoption
of other biotechnologies
such as freezing semen, sexing semen,
and deep uterine insemination.
Since the 1960s and 1970s artificial insemination
has been utilized by the swine industry.
In this traditional artificial insemination
semen is deposited into the cervix
similar to natural mating with the boar.
Recently an interest in post cervical artificial insemination
or PCAI has grown.
Today I would like to discuss the process of PCAI.
Before we can begin to understand
how PCAI is performed,
we need to have a general understanding
of the anatomy of the females reproductive tract.
Here we are looking at the reproductive tracts
from a sow and a gilt.
You can see that they are noticeably different in size
but the anatomical parts are the same.
The exterior of the reproductive tract is the vulva.
Just inside the body is the vagina.
Beyond the vagina is the cervix
which is very long in the pig.
Again the cervix is where semen is deposited
during natural mating with a boar
and with conventional artificial insemination.
If we zoom in on the cervix
we can see it has interdigitating pads
which are thickened areas of tissue
along the sides of the cervical canal.
These pads create a convoluted path through the cervix.
Beyond the end of the cervix is the uterine body.
The uterine body is quite small in the pig
and is where semen is deposited during PCAI.
The majority of the pigs uterus
is comprised of uterine horns
The uterus houses the fetuses during gestation.
At the far end of the uterine horns
are the oviduct where fertilization occurs
and the ovaries which house the females eggs.
There are many traditional AI and PCAI catheters on the market.
Here is a picture of several of each type.
These 2 are traditional AI catheters,
a foam tip and a spiral tip
designed to deposit semen in the cervix.
The other catheters on the screen
are several commercially available PCAI catheters
designed to deposit semen into the uterine body.
You can see that these catheters look similiar
to the traditional AI catheters
except that they have an inner catheter
which extends beyond the foam or spiral tip.
During PCAI a foam tip or a spiral tipped outer catheter
is inserted into the vulva through the vagina
and placed in the first 2 interdigitating pads of the cervix.
This is where the catheter would end
if using traditional AI.
The smaller inner catheter is then threaded through
the outer catheter.
It is passed through the remaining
interdigitating pads of the cervix
and lands in the uterine body.
These smaller catheters can typically easily
pass through the lumen of the cervix into the uterus.
Then a semen dose can be deposited
into the uterine body.
So lets show you how this process works
on a live animal.
Here I am behind 3 sows that were confirmed
in estrous by boar exposure about 40 minutes
prior to this recording.
Since we are performing PCAI on post weaned sows
the boar should not be present during insemination.
I am spreading the vulvas open
and inserting the outer portion of the PCAI rod
into the vulva at a 45°
through the vagina until it locks into the cervix.
If needed a non spermicidal lubricant
can be used on the outer catheter.
Take caution to not get the lube
on the tip of the catheter
where the inner catheter will advance through.
I am confirming that the rod is in the cervix
by turning the rod counter clockwise
and gently pulling back on the rod until
I feel a slight resistance.
Next I will load the inner catheters
into the outer catheters.
Caution should be taken to not contaminate
the tip of the inner catheter that will enter the uterus.
As you can see I leave the inner catheter
in plastic wrap while loading the first 1/3 of the catheter
into the outer rod to avoid contamination.
I am only inserting the inner catheter
to the point where I feel it reach the end
of the foam tip of the outer catheter.
I am going to repeat this procedure
on all 3 of the sows.
Now I will advance the inner catheter through the cervix
past the remaining interdigitating pads.
Depending on how long the sow has been in estrous
it should be possible to feel
the inner catheter advance past 2 to 3 pads
as seen here.
The size of the sow and the brand of the PCAI catheter
will dictate how far to advance the inner catheter.
For this brand used to demonstrate
most sows can easily accommodate the entire length
of the inner catheter.
Sometimes the sows cervix will contract around
the outer catheter once it stimulates the cervix.
This could make it difficult to pass the inner catheter.
The cervix should relax within about 20 seconds
to allow the inner catheter to be placed.
Then a semen dose can be connected
to the end of the inner catheter
and slight pressure placed on the
tube, bottle, or bag until emptied into the sow.
Sometimes the end of the inner catheter
that's in the sow's uterus
may suction against the wall of the uterus.
This would be evident if the semen was not flowing
out of the bag or bottle.
If so you can pull back on the inner catheter slightly
and semen should begin to flow.
Once the dose has been inseminated
the bottle or bag can be removed
and allow some air to enter in it
in order to ensure that the entire dose
is deposited in the sow.
So you will see here
I will disconnect the bottle
and allow some air to fill the bottle and
flush the remaining semen in the AI rod into the sow.
Once the complete dose is deposited
you can remove the inner and outer catheter simultaneously
and examine them for any leakage or blood.
When you remove the catheter
back flow should be minimal
in another words the sow should not squirt the semen
back out her vulva onto the floor.
For those of you that have performed traditional AI
there are several major differences
in the procedures for PCAI.
One of the most significant
is that a boar should not be present
in front of the sow during insemination.
In another words, the sow is not demonstrating
the standing heat behavior during insemination.
Wait a minimum of 15 to 20 minutes
following heat check to inseminate the sows.
PCAI can not make up for poor management.
PCAI is a reproductive tool
that if used properly can provide some
advantages to the producer.
However the producers still require
sows to come into estrous naturally
and exhibit visual signs of estrous.
Therefore sows need to be fed appropriately
during lactation and insemination.
A skilled employee needs to be responsible
for estrous detection in order to identify
all of the sows eligible for insemination.
Additionally, semen quality cannot be ignored.
Semen needs to be stored and handled
to maximize sperm survival.
The potential benefits of PCAI
are to reduce labor associated with insemination,
reduce the time associated with insemination,
and to facilitate the use of low dose semen
to maximize the use of high indexing boars.
If you have any questions,
please feel free to contact me Dr. Kara Stewart.
♪ (background music) ♪
This presentation was a production
of the Animal Sciences department
at Purdue University.