Mare Owners Advised to Check Paperwork
15th April 2010
Owners of mares looking to breed by artificial insemination this year are advised to ensure that stallions have been tested free of all venereal diseases and that shipped semen is accompanied by the appropriate paperwork.
The British Equine Veterinary Association's (BEVA's) President Madeleine Campbell says "We are looking to ensure that shipped semen, whether it is imported or comes from within the UK, is accompanied by the correct paperwork confirming that it is free from disease. No-one should be using semen which is not accompanied by that paperwork and to help, we have developed our own certificate for use within the UK."
Adds The Horserace Betting Levy Board's (HBLB's) Stephanie McIntosh "the HBLB's annually updated Codes of Practice contain information on the testing standards that the industry has recommended, and the HBLB, BEF and BEVA have together developed a simple certificate for use with semen originating within the UK to complement our Codes. If the certificate is properly completed, those using the semen can be confident that it should comply with industry standards and does not pose a health risk to the mares being inseminated".
With several cases of notifiable diseases having already occurred in the UK this year, it is ever more important that our biosecurity measures are up to scratch and, moreover, says the British Equestrian Federation's (BEF's) Jan Rogers "that any process is easy to understand - the more straightforward any certificate is, the more likely it is to be used".
UK studs are asked to ensure that a completed certificate is included with every dose of semen shipped from their premises, and mare owners / inseminating vets or licensed AI technicians are advised to check that any semen they receive is accompanied by a certificate. The shipped semen certificate for semen originating in the UK can be downloaded from http://www.bef.co.uk/British_Breeding
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