Bull Semen Flies Out Door As LIC Ships Biggest Volume Ever To South Island

Demand for LIC’s fresh liquid bull semen is literally flying out the door as demand rockets. The cooperative has chartered a plane through Mainland Air to airfreight over 70,000 straws of semen (its biggest inter-island shipment) from Hamilton to Nelson, Christchurch, Invercargill and Dunedin departing on Saturday 31 October.

The shipment is just one of many LIC will be making as its team works to impregnate four million cows over the coming months.

The 12cm long straws flying out of Hamilton tomorrow will be stored in secure chilly bins as cargo during the flight with care and speed of delivery critical to maintaining the semen’s integrity.

It’s the first time in LIC’s history that it has chartered a plane for its semen delivery to the South Island and demonstrates the lengths it’s going to ensure there is no interruption to its supply chain during the pandemic. It also supports other traditional air and land transport options the cooperative is currently using to transport fresh semen quickly.

Once on the ground, tomorrow’s delivery of straws will be quickly distributed by LIC’s artificial breeding logistics teams to artificial breeding technicians who will be on farm within days to inseminate cows for dairy farmers as part of their mating plans.

The process then starts again with LIC’s artificial breeding technician’s inseminated over cows across the country resulting in around $300 million in genetic gain. A similar volume of 2019 inseminations is expected for 2020 as cow efficiency and production increases but herd numbers remain stable.

LIC’s general manager NZ Markets, Malcolm Ellis, says the shipment marks an exciting milestone as it’s the biggest individual consignment to date to the South Island by LIC.

“We’re seeing strong demand across our AB product options this year. Our delivery of fresh semen via our powerful Premier Sires teams continues to be a defining contributor of genetic merit to the national herd.

“This year we are particularly experiencing phenomenal growth in the area of fresh sexed semen which delivers a 90 per cent chance of producing a heifer calf enabling farmers to target valuable heifer replacements from their most productive cows ensuring the rate of genetic gain within their dairy herds is optimised.”

It’s exciting to see the scale of this delivery taking place and ensuring the continuation of our incredible national dairy herd supported by committed and passionate farmers.”

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