AI Qualification

[DanielleP]

SO does anyone have any idea about how to go about training for an AI technician qualification? (or a job title/qualification of approx that description)

I have been facinated in the goings on of AI/breeding and the science behind it all for some time. I currenlty have a full time job so preferably would like to be able to do something which would fit around that purely for financial reasons! Any advice and or suggestions welcome!

Thanks

 

[Fahrenheit]

The AI Technicians course is run over 2 days. Best places to ring are Willesley EC or Twemlows and they will tell you when they are running courses... When I did mine the course cost over £500 per person plus accomodation.

 

[sam_dressage]

theres more infomation on www.beva.org.uk i think the course costs £450 but its very soon.

 

[Drum]

I was hoping to do this course too, but not this year.

Does anyone know what the pass rate is like?!

 

[AndyPandy]

Pass rate is about 99%. It's near impossible to try and make a career of being an AI tech (unless you're breeding your own horses), due to the veterinary surgeons & procedures laws. It's such a shame that the AI technician's abilities are so limited.

 

[KenRehill]

it's a funny old thing. In the UK, you can inseminate but not scan, whilst in France you can scan but not inseminate. it would be interesting to get both qualifications and see how that hung with DEFRA!

 

[AndyPandy]

Good plan! Book me in for the French scanning course please! Ken - do you know what the French authorities' reasons are for allowing scanning but not insemination?

 

[KenRehill]

As with many things in which "professionals" exist, in France you find legalised monopolies. The vets are very powerful in France and control prescriptions for wormers, inseminations etc etc. the amusing thing is that technicians can perform ET flushes and transplants, which are surely more (not much more, but still more) complicated than an insemination.

I think that if the authorities were on a "safety of the horse" angle, they'd be off base a little, as I'm sure that scanning can do far more damage to a mare than a non-deep horn insemination with fresh semen.

Probably, it's a question of regulation and certfication of foals and mares etc. we are far more regulated in France than in the UK with regard to paperwork (at least we were), and so the vet is responsible for the regulatory work surrounding the insemination and subsequent recognition and recording of the foal.

 

[AndyPandy]

It's the same here, in terms of being a legalised monopoly.

The thing is, if a mare is torn when scanning (by a vet or lay person) there is not a whole lot you can do. Even the vet is very unlikely to be able to save the mare. I know of some vets in this country who have torn tens of mare in a single breeding season, and other lay people who have been scanning themselves ("secretly") for years, and have never torn a single mare. It's really down to being careful, but of course accidents do happen.

 

[Fahrenheit]

[ QUOTE ]
Pass rate is about 99%. It's near impossible to try and make a career of being an AI tech (unless you're breeding your own horses), due to the veterinary surgeons & procedures laws. It's such a shame that the AI technician's abilities are so limited.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree, it is near impossible to make a career out of being an AI tech... unless you are being employed by a stud or AI centre, or are doing along side something else... ie your own stud or another business.

Saying that, I thought i'd let you know that the Twemlows course is coming up very soon and it's £540 per person and when I did it the accommodation for one night was £70ish per person for one night including a meal...(which they make you sit between people you don't know!!... reminded me of junior school when the class got shuffled round to sit boy, girl, boy, girl so you weren't sat with friends

)

 

[Maesfen]

[ QUOTE ]
[including a meal...(which they make you sit between people you don't know!!... reminded me of junior school when the class got shuffled round to sit boy, girl, boy, girl so you weren't sat with friends

)

[/ QUOTE ]

That so made me laugh knowing the family! Spot on!

 

[Violet]

I qualified as an AI (cows and pigs) in Scandinavia quite a few years ago. We also did all the pregnancy diagnosing as the vets used to say that we spent more time up the cows/pigs backside than they did and more accurate on PD than they were (this was before scanning). The course was about 8 weeks and some of that time was spent at slaughter houses practising on cows due to be slaughtered. We used a "special" insemination applicator, when we reached the spot for the semen deposit we pressed a button and it burnt a mark in the cows uterus. We then put a numbered marker on the cows tail and after slaughter we got a chance to examine the uterus to see how accurate we had been. It was very interesting and working as an AI technician I got monthly reports on my pregnancy rates. We used to say that once you learnt how to do it it was like learning to ride your bike. I have yet not done the horse AI course in this country, I have a very good stallion owner who has manged to get my mare pregnant at first attempt each time. Fresh semen AI.
I think if you get to do a lot of mares it would be a very interesting job.