We are looking at purchasing a sperm counter so we can keep an eye on his counts, not only for shipped semen obviously, but for on farm AI as well. Im aware of the Spermacue costing almost $3000, which if we need to get that due to the quality, we will, but wanted opinions on models that cost less (like the ARS Densimeter). Any suggestions or comments (good or bad) are greatly appreciated. We have a Hemacytometer to use for back up as well, but obviously time consuming.
I have a DVM rapid stat that seems to be ok, I have used it on my 2 year old and to confirm/backup the numbers it gives me I send a batch of the same semen to my vet to use on his spermacue, the numbers don't match up exactly, the DVM seems to have higher numbers by around 10% but was told that was no big deal for extending for shipping.
"Mechanical" sperm counters - for lack of a better description - are not as accurate as manual counting methods. We evaluated a variety of them compared to hemacytometer counts several years ago, and at any time, any of the mechanical counters could be out up to about 20%. That sounds a lot, but it's not really a problem in most cases with cooled transported semen, as plenty of sperm are being sent anyway. If accuracy is required, then a manual count is needed, if convenience and speed is a factor, the mechanical counters are the way to go.
With the mechanical counters, to some extent, you get what you pay for. The greater the price, the more the bells and whistles - the exceptions to that rule are the Densimeter from ARS and the Spermacue from Minitube, both of which are high priced and do not do any more than some of the [considerably] cheaper models. At the cheaper end of things are the IMV Micro-reader (IMV) and DVM Stat (Har-Vet). These units will give you a reading of absorbency of light (the method that is used to determine sperm concentration) that you then reference against a printed scale. Middle of the road are the Quick Check (Exodus Breeders), the Har-Vet counter (I don't have a catalogue to hand, and it doesn't appear to be on their web site, but Har-Vet have a higher priced counter than the DVM Stat, and it has more functions), and the Counterpoint from HRI. All of these units will do some of the math for you as well. One advantage of the Quick Check is that it uses raw semen, so an addition dilution requirement (read margin for error) is eliminated. HRI have a more advanced Counterpoint model that also weighs the ejaculate and will allow for more advanced calculations (note - as of this writing, the Counterpoint model is not available, but HRI hope to have it available again soon).
There are links at the foot of this page to many of the companies I mentioned above, so you can go and have a look on their web sites for more information.
Jos Can you clarify the way to count on the hemocytometer. We collected the stallion for the first time today and either I didnt count right or my math was wrong but the number I came up with was high. Thanks for the help
Take 1-ml of semen, and 9-ml of diluent, and mix together. Then take 1-ml of that mixture and add to a further 9-ml of a diluent. At least one of those diluents should contain formalin to kill the sperm.
Load the hemacytometer with the cover slip in place, being careful to neither over- or under-fill. The gridded region should be filled, but the grooves on either side should not (although a little overflow is permissible). Allow the sample to settle for about 5 minutes.
There are two gridded areas on the hemacytometer. Each gridded area contains a large square that is 1 mm x 1 mm. Within that large square are 25 (5 x 5) intermediate sized squares. Within each intermediate square there are 16 small squares (4 x 4). We are interested in the intermediate sized squares.
Count the number of sperm that appear in 25 or 50 of the intermediate squares. To count 25, count 13 on the grid on one side, and 12 on the other. To count 50, count the total number of sperm appearing in all the intermediate sized squares on both sides. Sperm crossing the line at the top and left side of each square should be counted, those on the right and bottom, don't count (you'll count them when in the next square over, and the perimeter sperm you'll be averaging by counting only those on the left and top).
Using this dilution technique, the number of sperm you count in 25 squares will be the equivalent in millions of sperm per ml. i.e. if you count 125 sperm, the concentration is 125 million/ml. If you count all 50 squares, divide by two (i.e. you'd count 250 in the above example to have a concentration of 125 million/ml).
Any extender can be used, or sodium citrate, but one of the mixes needs a little formalin in order to kill the sperm. Many use straight formalin, but it is nasty stuff, and you need to make sure that the vapour doesn't invade your lab, or you'll have dead sperm everywhere, so we prefer to use sodium citrate or a clear extender with a little formalin added (it doesn't take much to kill them!).
If you're in the USA, Exodus Breeder Supply carry it - follow the link that appears in the logos for them at the foot of this page.
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