AI Here, AI There, AI Everywhere!

Everywhere I go, I hear the term AI. Who knew so many people were breeding animals?? It is a change of culture going from my “real” job Industrial Engineering to my farm world. In the office, we talk about AI all the time. Will it improve efficiencies? Replace jobs? Automate processes? The truth is, yes likely all of these. But on the farm, AI takes a whole different meaning: artificial insemination.

There are pros and cons of AI on the farm and only you can truly know which is best. You could do the Cost Analysis and strictly go by that however when it comes to Decision Analysis, there is so much more. Decision Analysis is weighing in both quantitative and qualitative measures. These indicators may not be weighted equally either. For example, a homestead may weigh safety as a top priority due to the presence of young kids. Another farm may consider space a priority due to limited space (either inside or outside). It is best to sit down and brainstorm all of the factors that are important to you.

When we sat down to determine if AI is right for our farm we considered Safety, Labor, Cost, and Genetic Availability. We have two young kids and safety is really important. Having an intact male on the farm always increases risk no matter how friendly he is. Labor was a consideration for us. We do not hire outside labor and our time is precious. Having another animal to care for takes up some of that precious time (and space). The factor that came out as the biggest benefit for AI is genetic diversity and availability. There are no Guernsey cow breeders near us. There are very few breeders of Hampshire and Duroc pigs.

Here is what our decision matrix looked like:

Live Cover (Boar, Bull, etc)

Artificial Insemination

Safety

High Risk

Low/ Medium

Labor

Medium

Low

Cost

(Bull ~$500), (Boar, ~$575)

$300+/Cow, $350+/Sow

Genetic Availability

Low

High

I have approximate values of the cost for our farm. There is a risk with AI that the cost could end up being higher AND you may not get your animal to successfully get pregnant. Of course this wouldn’t be a breakdown unless I truly went into the numbers; so let’s do just that!

First, we just finished breeding our sow after her first litter. When it comes to the cost of our sow, we look at her cost vs just buying feeder piglets (assuming we can find them!). The cost factors we considered are feed, bedding, & AI Cost. To be honest, besides feed, she really doesn’t require much. She mostly just likes to do piggy stuff outside. She has very little vet needs compared to some animals - Yes I am talking to you Goats!

Here is what we spent on her the first half of the year:

Feed: $380

Bedding: $75

AI Cost: $290 (ended up breeding her twice as the first time didn’t take)

Total Cost: $745

**This does not include her purchase cost or misc. supplies. Those items should be split across her lifetime.

Her first litter produced 12 piglets with 11 surviving. Which would be a cost per piglet of about $67.75. Part of the reason her cost is so high is that we paid shipping of semen for only 1 sow at a time. Also, we are not as efficient with feed as we could be (on our to-be-improved list).

This time we bred 2 sows at the same interval and we are hopeful they both took. So lets look at that data (per sow)

Feed: $380

Bedding: $75

AI Cost: $100

Total Cost: $555

If she produces the same amount of piglets, the cost per piglet is less, around $50.50.

In our area the cost of feeder piglets in spring (if you can find them) is around $120. The fall is much cheaper, around $60-80. For us, it made sense to try our hand at breeding our own feeders. We still have room to improve but so does every operation.

Now, what about those cows of ours? For the cows, their feed and upkeep isn’t really factored into the AI decision. The pigs has an alternative - buy feeders from someone else. Since we run a dairy, we are not buying feeders as our business plan. If you run a beef operation, buying feeders is an option. Now we will have to wait to dive into the numbers since our cows have not yet been bred this year so stay tuned!