For a moment it looked as if a forest had sprung up in the hall.
And after the arms that rose in favor of on-farm elk semen collection fell, only a few scattered arms rose to challenge the idea.
“That’s pretty clear then,” said Agriculture Canada veterinarian George Luterbach.
The overwhelming vote of support at the Saskatchewan Game Farmers Association annual meeting for regulated on-farm semen collection reassured Luterbach that his department and the industry are on the same wavelength when it comes to artificial insemination.
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Agriculture Canada has drafted a set of regulations to allow on-farm semen collection, Luterbach said in an interview. Producers should be able to take advantage of new rules by the fall rutting season, when semen production is at its highest.
Now, all elk semen has to be collected at the one approved AI centre in Saskatchewan. Producers have complained about this because of transportation risks to the expensive animals and fear of diseases that could be picked up in the facility.
Most other livestock species, such as swine, now go through AI centres where diseases and other factors are analyzed.
But Luterbach said elk producers do not rely as much on the export semen market, and they want a more flexible system designed for the domestic market.
For export semen sales, producers will probably have to follow more stringent practices and use an AI centre, he said.
“It looks as if we’re headed to a two-tiered system,” said Luterbach.
A show of hands indicating strong rejection of unregulated semen collection reassured Luterbach that Canadian elk producers agree with the government’s concern for animal health.
Agriculture Canada developed more flexible regulations because the old system wasn’t completely effective.
Some producers are illegally collecting elk semen on their farms.
