Select Sires’ Program for Fertility Advancement™ (PFA™) is focused on constant improvement in semen quality and fertility through innovations and research. A recent research project, conducted through the PFA, found that a new enhancement to the gender SELECTed™ semen process has made a significant improvement in conception rates observed in the field.

The sex sorting procedure subjects sperm to considerable stress, which does not occur during conventional semen processing, contributing significantly to sexed semen having lower conception rates than the rate achieved with conventional semen. This was confirmed in a Select Sires research trial in 2005. Over the years, collaborative research efforts between Sexing Technologies and Select Sires have focused on improving sperm survival throughout the process of sex sorting including a new process developed by Sexing Technologies and researched through PFA.

The results of nearly 7,000 inseminations on Holstein heifers across 41 PFA herds were analyzed to find a 4.5 percent rise in actual conception rate compared to the previous procedure. This conception rate increase ranged from 1.4 to 7.9 percent among all sires in the study. This represents one more incremental step on the road toward sexed semen conception rates that are equal to that of conventional semen. Select Sires began using this process early in the spring for all commercially marketed gender SELECTed semen.

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