AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich is joined by Dr. Elizabeth Lahmers, Chief Veterinary Officer, and Dr. Tony Good, Vice President of Production Operations, from Select Sires, Inc. Both Good and Lahmers also serve on the Board of Directors of Certified Semen Services. This episode of Have You Herd? is brought to you by the AABP Reproduction Committee.

Certified Semen Services (CSS) was established in 1976 and is a subsidiary of the National Association Animal Breeders. The primary purpose of the program is to prevent the spread of disease through semen and is considered to be the gold standard certification program for artificial insemination. The main diseases that are screened through the program are Campylobacter, Trichomoniasis, Tuberculosis, Brucellosis, BVD and Leptospirosis. The key benefits to breeders and farmers with CSS is that the semen is from a bull that has met minimum standards. 

Our guests also discuss some of the challenges they experience with receiving potential bull studs into their program. Both IBR and Lepto titers remain a challenge. Our guests encourage veterinarians to work with bull studs on housing and vaccination protocols to ensure that potential studs do not have titers that would eliminate them from the program. They also mention that better tests are needed for some of these diseases to differentiate titers from infection versus vaccination. 

The benefits of the CSS program include improving fertility through extenders, expansion of export markets, ensuring processes and controls are in place for prevention of disease, and establishing a growing relationship with USDA.

To find out more information about Certified Semen Services, visit this website. If you are an AABP member interested in reproduction, consider joining the AABP Reproduction Committee by emailing [email protected].