SEMEN FREEZING

We are a ‘Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture, Biosecurity’ accredited semen freezing laboratory meeting OIE (World Organisation for Animal Health) Terrestrial Animal Health Code standards. Accreditation is maintained through annual inspections of our facilities, procedures and hygiene protocols.

We have a separate processing laboratory for semen frozen for export. This is to satisfy the standards required by importing countries.

In most cases your local veterinary practitioner collects semen from your animal, adds extenders supplied by Just Genes and packs it in a styrofoam esky with freezer bricks and couriers it to our laboratory for freezing in 0.25 mL straws. We have a machine that indelibly prints the animals name and other details on the straws. Guidelines set by ICAR (International Agreement of Recording Practices) for straw identification are followed.

Species that we have frozen include bulls, goats, sheep, stallions, pigs, deer, dolphins, koalas and poultry.

SEMEN STORAGE

Your valuable genetics can be stored in either our tanks or we will maintain your own tanks on site. All tanks are filled with liquid nitrogen on a regular basis.  This virtually eliminates the possibility of your tank going dry and the loss of the contents.

SPERM MORPHOLOGY EXAMINATION

John is an accredited morphologist. Accreditation is maintained through annual written exams. Morphologies are assessed using a Differential Interference Contrast microscope at x1000 magnification. All morphology reports are professionally presented.

SEMEN QUALITY ASSESSMENT

A percentage of sperm don’t survive the freezing and thawing procedures. To assure that there are sufficient sperm alive and motile after freezing, a straw is thawed and assessed using a Phase Contrast microscope. If minimum quality standards are not achieved the batch is discarded unless otherwise requested by the owner.

SEMEN TRANSPORT

A variety of shippers are available for hire to transport frozen semen to destinations within Australia and overseas.

BIOSECURITY (AQIS) SEMEN CLEARANCE

Just Genes has a close working relationship with the veterinary officers at DAFF, Biosecurity for the clearance of frozen semen being imported from overseas or exported from Australia. Collette has considerable experience in the health protocols and documentation required.