21.12.2017
Due to avian flu, a Hungarian company that breeds 500,000 mulards and one million geese each year to make foie gras was forced to keep its geese confined instead of raising them partially outdoors. As a result, their fertility rates fell from 85% to 70%. The company tried insemination with the duck method (AI gun + big straws) but this method was not satisfactory, from a hygiene point of view in particular.
We met with this client in France in July in order to present our turkey IA method at the premises of one of our clients in Brittany. They were impressed by our M.R.A. concept, which involves using single-use straws. We then developed a new process for geese, combining different products from our poultry range. We could not use the turkey semen collection system because ganders, like male ducks, have a penis rather than a cloaca as do most other poultry species. Following its visit, the Hungarian company opted to order duck semen collectors, double-wall vessels, Canadyl, a semen filtering system, an Accucell photometer and… a 100ul M.R.A.
This is the first time in IMV’s history that an M.R.A. has been used for goose breeding!
Misha Savic and I went to assist with the first inseminations with their nucleus gaggle at a site in northwest
Hungary. A unique and very interesting experience off the beaten track.
