Jos, I'm hoping you can answer my questions on the EST XL - SH. Are they worth investing in? The EST website says they will hold the temperature for 120 hours!! Also states that they are better than the Equitainers. We currently have both cup style and tube style 72 hour Equitainers and Clipper and Exquine Express disposables. If these new containers are supposed to be superior, and obviously look a lot easier to ship with, I'm wondering if we should invest in a few of them and sell of a few of our Equitainers and disposables?
I'm over a year late in responding to this, but I'm a huge fan of the EST. In fact, I liked it so much I became a distributor. As it's so economical, my mare owner clients all have their own and love them. It is so easy to use, is considerably cheaper than the Equitainer, and last for years, even with constant use.
I just got a report from a shipment to Canada that had been delayed at the border. IOW, one dose was used on day 3, the 2nd on day 4. On day 4 it was checked and still reported that the motility was "way up there" and semen looked very good. That's sure good enough for me!
They have dropped the 120 hr. model and kept the 72 hr. one.
Unfortunately, we still prefer the results we have seen with the Equitainers. "Disposable" type containers (and the EST is apparently based on the Equine Express II) do not have the insulation that the Equitainer has, which can be a major issue with hot or cold ambient temperatures, or with temperature-sensitive stallions. As a general rule, across the board, one will get a better result using the Equitainer with a random sample of stallions. There are some stallions out there that one could ship semen in a cardboard box with no insulation in, and still get pregnancies, but they are in the minority...
We had a "reverse" example of comparative insulation properties a couple of years ago. We were travelling across the top of the US in the winter, which was cold. A week well below freezing. When we got where we were going, the coolant pack in the disposable model shipper was frozen solid, but the coolant cans in the Equitainer were still liquid. That obviously demonstrates the difference in the insulation abilities. If sperm had been in the containers instead of them being empty, then one would have had dead sperm in for sure! It is therefore not unreasonable to extrapolate the reverse effect for hot weather, and that is not infrequently reported by persons living in hot climates receiving warm semen.
There are stallions and situations that disposable model containers will work well for, but caveat emptor is a good philosophy in hot or cold climates or with an unknown stallion.
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