He works in the Ruse village of Trastenik Center for extraction and storage of seminal fluid, embryology and embryo transfer, whose laboratory is the third of its kind in the European Union. On the territory of the Old Continent there is one for pig breeding, one for cattle breeding and the Bulgarian one for goat breeding.
Read more: How to apply for Agri Summit & Awards 2024? (video instructions)
In the Bulgarian center analyzes can be done at the global level. “In our laboratory, high-quality seed material is produced, and by a happy coincidence, Bulgaria is the world champion of the Saan breed of goats,” he told Agri.BG Dean Todorov, chairman of the Dairy Goat Breeding Association.
Some time ago, 12 animals were bought from the Netherlands, which are below 50 place in the country’s register. A few months after their arrival in Bulgaria, a ranking is published, according to which one of the imported animals has been the #1 breeder for the Netherlands for the past 120 years.
In order to increase milk production in the country necessary to raise the level of genetics. To accomplish this by the ordinary methods of using male breeders, first about 1500-1800 quality male breeders need to be found which is not going to happenthe specialist’s accounts indicate.
It is no accident that almost every farmer compromises and takes a lower quality animal for breeding.
In artificial insemination with this breeder, which was purchased from the Netherlands, from just one collection of semen, 30 to 100 doses can be obtained.
From the association have been working for the third year with the elite specimens, and so far 12,000 animals have been fertilized. “This is a new topic in the field of goat breeding, since the sperm of goats is the most demanding to process and store,” clarifies Todorov.
It was an even bigger problem in the beginning the lack of scientific workers to work in the laboratory and the impossibility of gaining experience, although the association has toured all the biggest centers in Europe.
“And when it came to the issue of the diluents these centers were working with, that was the end of the story.” It’s a closely guarded company secret, it took us two to three years to produce a diluentwith which we can manage to preserve the seminal fluid”, also shared Dean Todorov, who welcomed Agriculture Minister Kiril Vatev to the laboratory over the weekend.
Three types of seminal fluid are produced in Bulgaria – fresh, which must be used within 2 hours, the second type is chilled, which is kept at a certain temperature in special refrigerators and can be stored for 72 hours with our thinner. The third type is cryopreserved seminal fluid, which is deep frozen and stored in baked nitrogen at -196 degrees. It is practically eternal.
The insemination service for farmers is not cheap because the supplies are very expensive. Every consumable arrives from Germany, where one of the two manufacturers of such equipment in the world is located, it became clear from Todorov’s words.
Prices vary according to individual breeders, because every animal has different qualities. One dose on average costs between BGN 50 and 80 from the laboratory, but the costs increase with the other materials and substances. necessary to perform artificial insemination.
The way the lab works and switch to mass artificial insemination, we will save about 100 years in selection within 5 years, his accounts show. It is this way because we import genetics that have undergone this centuries of development and use them directly. Naturally, things happen very slowly and over time.
The Bulgarian white dairy goat is the main breed in the association. 13 years ago, when Dean Todorov started working in the organization, there were 120,000 animals of this breed on the list, but only 358 animals were found when checked. Years of work followed and at the moment we have 28,000 pedigree animals and another 50,000 crosses in the regular herds.