What Are the Dangers of A.I. in Dairy Cows?

Unlike beef cattle (only 5 percent of which nationally are artificially inseminated), the majority of dairy cattle and heifers are bred by artificial insemination. The benefits of artificial insemination are many and varied, including the potential to achieve a shorter calving season, reduction of reproductive disease transmission, elimination of the need to keep and handle dairy bulls, elimination of ancillary breeding pastures and the ability to quickly improve desired traits in the herd. Unfortunately, artificial insemination also has its dangers, which include semen placement error, disease transmission, dissemination of genetic defects and the shallowing of the genetic pool.

  1. Semen Placement Error

    • Semen placement error is one of the largest dangers in artificial insemination of dairy cattle. Typically, each straw of semen represents a significant investment, and improperly conducted insemination can result in a low or no chance of pregnancy. Likewise, unskilled handlers can insert semen straws so deep that they puncture the uterine wall of a cow, resulting not only in a waste of semen and estrus cycle, but the potential for the cow to contract a uterine infection.

    Disease Transmission

    • Though artificial insemination, when properly conducted, often serves to reduce disease transmission in dairy cattle, unsterile proceedures and other handler errors and environmental conditions can create situations in which artificial insemination encourages disease transmission --- both from cow to cow and cow to calf. Ultimately, the best way to reduce or eliminate disease transmission is to keep conditions as sterile as possible, and to thoroughly clean all equipment between uses. Metritis and infertility are possible risks of poor sanitation.

    Dissemination of Genetic Defects

    • Artificial insemination in dairy cattle is such a widespread practice that one of the largest dangers in modern times is the potential for rapid dissemination of genetic defects. In cases in which bulls have not been thoroughly tested for genetic diseases but possess highly desirable traits, it is possible for their semen to produce crops of foals that exhibit those same diseases.

    Shallowing the Genetic Pool

    • Unfortunately, the vast majority of dairy cows are typically bred to a small pool of high-producing sires. Consistently using a small pool of sires can, over time, decrease the genetic diversity in dairy cattle breeds.