Numpty Alert! Why Are Semen Agents Needed?

Maesfen

Maesfen

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As title and why would you use one?
Surely you have to pay for their services on top of the semen fee to the stud so what do they, or are they supposed to do for your money?
It obviously seems that you don't always get value for your money if today's article is anything to go by although I understand there are good semen agents, it's just knowing who to trust.
Just interested that's all.
 
I should imagine the language barrier at some foreign studs has a lot to do with it.

*edited to correct spelling - pleads dyslexia in capital letters you bullies*
 
Can see your point but surely the studs mainly dealt with are on the international scene and English is the business language (so I've been told!) so they should be able to correspond in it by now?
Perhaps their public relations are not their strong point so people get fed up with trying to be understood and hand over to a middle man!
I honestly am not casting aspersions on them just interested as I know nothing about it.
 
I did ask this question before MFH when first told someone was having problems getting hold of, World Class Stallions. They said something about it being to do with import documentation of the live semen and needing to be licenced, but I can't remember the exact terminlogy they used.
 
True, but also alot of it imo is convenience, i'd rather pay 50 euros extra, and have the semen arrive the day I need it with someone else doing all the paper work and pen pushing! But then again I suppose it depends on the agent!
 
MFH, I'm sure you consider yourself to be educated and intelligent, but recently your posts have been hilariously short on fact, cogence and substance, here's why;

1 - In my experience, you pay exactly the same price as you would directly from the stud. If it's higher, it's because of the extra costs to the stud in paperwork with Government vets required to send the semen to the UK. Some studs will wear the cost, others won't. An agent gets paid commission by the stud, it doesn't cost the breeder any more.

2 - There can often be a language barrier, the British are not known for the language skills after all, especially the grasp of their mother tongue.

3 - An agent will often be in the know about which stallions semen is good and bad, and will be able to advise accordingly. Stuff that the average breeder in the UK will never get to know of.

4 - depending on the agent, you'll get good advice as to the suitablility of a stallion for your mare. My agent is at young horse classes three days a week and so can give very up to date information about what a stallion is producing. That is priceless.

5 - If there's a transport problem, then (again depending on the agent) they are there until whenever o'clock sorting out the problem. Mine works until past 10pm sorting out problems with TNT and doesn't give up until there's no chance of it going good.

6 - Some studs do not (some studs do) want to deal with UK breeders direct, beacuse they haven't got time for the two hour long conversations. They only want to deal with one person who then deals with the breeders, that's just sensible.

7 - Thank God they exist, because if they didn't we be left with the sorry bunch of donkeys we've got in the UK. (I gave you that one as the get out clause to criticise me, rather than concentrate on thesubstance above).

But you were right to give the numpty alert in the title.
 
Personally I do not think it was a numpty question, as I was wondering too - true, I know nothing about breeding, but I will breed in the future and I am absorbing info like a sponge ATM. Oh, and I will only use British standing stallions, if that makes me an idiot, then so be it - nothing wrong with Arco, who I have earmarked for next year
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<font color="green"> Ooh, you're a charming chap, aren't you!
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[ QUOTE ]

6 - Some studs do not (some studs do) want to deal with UK breeders direct, beacuse they haven't got time for the two hour long conversations. They only want to deal with one person who then deals with the breeders, that's just sensible.


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And it looks like some studs don't want anything to do with that person either ...

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Semen agents come in all sorts of packages... the good, the bad and the ugly... (note i'm ot saying who comes under which category!)

Luckily I tend to only use foreign stallions that are available through the one place, which means its alot less hassle for me because they deal with everything and I trust them to do so, they haven't let me down since I started using them in 2004... the odd occassion I have bought semen from other places, I have usually ended up wishing I hadn't bothered so i'll stick with the good one i've found
 
You are quite possibly the rudest person I have ever had the misfortune to encounter (fortunately I presume I will never meet you, for which we both should be eternally grateful!).
As a hobby breeder I don't want to know about breeding world class horses, I want decent sound horses with nice temperaments for an average Joe to ride and handle. There are plenty of stallions for that purpose here.
I do have a small amount of knowledge of World Class breeding (my cousin is a SJ breeding anorak) and quite honestly by the time he breeds an olympic horse, I will have bred and sold enough average horses to have far exceeded his financial gain.
 
[ QUOTE ]
MFH, I'm sure you consider yourself to be educated and intelligent, but recently your posts have been hilariously short on fact, cogence and substance, here's why;

1 - In my experience, you pay exactly the same price as you would directly from the stud. If it's higher, it's because of the extra costs to the stud in paperwork with Government vets required to send the semen to the UK. Some studs will wear the cost, others won't. An agent gets paid commission by the stud, it doesn't cost the breeder any more.

2 - There can often be a language barrier, the British are not known for the language skills after all, especially the grasp of their mother tongue.

3 - An agent will often be in the know about which stallions semen is good and bad, and will be able to advise accordingly. Stuff that the average breeder in the UK will never get to know of.

4 - depending on the agent, you'll get good advice as to the suitablility of a stallion for your mare. My agent is at young horse classes three days a week and so can give very up to date information about what a stallion is producing. That is priceless.

5 - If there's a transport problem, then (again depending on the agent) they are there until whenever o'clock sorting out the problem. Mine works until past 10pm sorting out problems with TNT and doesn't give up until there's no chance of it going good.

6 - Some studs do not (some studs do) want to deal with UK breeders direct, beacuse they haven't got time for the two hour long conversations. They only want to deal with one person who then deals with the breeders, that's just sensible.

7 - Thank God they exist, because if they didn't we be left with the sorry bunch of donkeys we've got in the UK. (I gave you that one as the get out clause to criticise me, rather than concentrate on thesubstance above).

But you were right to give the numpty alert in the title.

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OOPS! don't even think Max Clifford could dig you out of this hole..........TAXI!
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Reasons to use THIS particular semen agent

1. Be given the information on only ONE type of stallion, ie those HE represents (not really well rounded customer service that)

2. Don't expect a receipt even though your tax man will

3. When you ask for a receipt expect to receive abusive emails

4. Don't expect your payment to be passed on to the stud in question, even though you may have paid for it in Feb 08

5. Expect them to fall out with said stud, then ridicule them in public, therefore leaving it even more unlikely you will get your covering certificate. Though of course you could end up doing it all yourself (so why use him in the first place)

6. Be told that you should use him for he is the best thing to hit our shores since sliced bread - but then be told your breeding programmes are crap (as you are British so goes without saying)

7. Expect a professional attitude at all times (but be heartily dismayed each and everytime he opens his mouth)

8. When all comes out, don't expect a profuse apology, expect to be bad mouthed on the very same forum who outed him in the first place.

9. Can I please have the names of those 2 reps??

Just thought I would tuck that in at the end to give you a get out clause to ignore all points
 
*eats popcorn, takes lots of notes*

Btw, BSMhWhateverNumberItIsNow, it's a bit rich to criticise Brits for having such a poor command of languages, including their mother tongue allegedly, and then miss a colon off a word in the very next sentence...
What does BSM stand for, please? I have my suspicions...
 
BSM, what a shame you had to spoil a very informative reply with rudeness.

Numpty was right in that I have never dealt with AI before except for one mare and even then she travelled to the stud in this country so therefore I have absolutely no knowledge of why someone would use an agent so the question was not as stupid as you seem to make out.

Perhaps semen sellers should have a charter like travel agents that they have to abide to.
 
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What does BSM stand for, please? I have my suspicions...

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<font color="green"> It could (maybe, possibly) stand for b... s... merchant? I'm not saying it does in this case, of course, but it's one possibility.

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quoted cumber because i am addicted to being green, (am i green)?

let me get this right, he is STILL spouting the same stuff, even though he no longer has anything to do with the stud, and, tbh imo, i would imagine, by now, people/customers are worried about this persons professonalism due to his conduct so far!!!!

does BSM = 'Bloomin spank me', im not sure tho cumber is it chance praps, just my opinion tho!!
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

What does BSM stand for, please? I have my suspicions...

[/ QUOTE ]

<font color="green"> It could (maybe, possibly) stand for b... s... merchant? I'm not saying it does in this case, of course, but it's one possibility.

[/ QUOTE ]


quoted cumber because i am addicted to being green, (am i green)?

let me get this right, he is STILL spouting the same stuff, even though he no longer has anything to do with the stud, and, tbh imo, i would imagine, by now, people/customers are worried about this persons professonalism due to his conduct so far!!!!

does BSM = 'Bloomin spank me', im not sure tho cumber is it chance praps, just my opinion tho!!

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Could be, greentiger.
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I still thinks it's something to do with a bovine waste product though.
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[quote
does BSM = 'Bloomin spank me', im not sure tho cumber is it chance praps, just my opinion tho!!

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Could be, greentiger.
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I still thinks it's something to do with a bovine waste product though.
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greentiger makes me sound like an 'eco warrior', and whilst i try to do my bit i couldnt possibly take the title of a warrior!!
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yes i think waste product is probably more in keeping!!
 
[ QUOTE ]
[quote
does BSM = 'Bloomin spank me', im not sure tho cumber is it chance praps, just my opinion tho!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Could be, greentiger.
smile.gif
I still thinks it's something to do with a bovine waste product though.
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[/ QUOTE ]

greentiger makes me sound like an 'eco warrior', and whilst i try to do my bit i couldnt possibly take the title of a warrior!!
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yes i think waste product is probably more in keeping!!

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<font color="green"> But you look good in green!
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An apology to all the serious people in the breeding section - I only stumbled in here because I wanted to find out about breeding even greener, shinier and longer cucumbers. My mistake.
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I'll disappear now.
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[quote
<font color="green">:
An apology to all the serious people in the breeding section - I only stumbled in here because I wanted to find out about breeding even greener, shinier and longer cucumbers. My mistake.
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I'll disappear now.
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[/ QUOTE ]

*side steps over to block the green ones exit*

"step away from the door cumber," your not going anywhere esp with that sense of green humour"
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Hey cumber, please stay, the more the merrier!

BSM - Basic semen mis-management, possibly. I have to say I've never used any semen from abroad, I use the best UK stallions I can!!
 
This is the argument FOR semen agents from our point of view of being a busy AI centre.
You have to order semen by 9 am latest, sometimes 8.30am. Some mornings we have 10 - 15 mares to scan and several then to order semen for. It is so easy to ring an agent or two and order it, not to have to spend ages on the phone to this stud and that, costing a fortune and taking up so much time. ( We would be starting at ridiculous O clock just to leave time for the phone calls and faxes)
I then do not have to spend time tracking the semen, the agent does it and then lets me know its en route. If its not they sort it out, not me. They know when the semen from stallions is not good enough as they get feed back from vets and mare owners if their mares are not getting in foal.
You do get good advice from them about type, temperament and offspring of their stallions that they offer(not always unbiased, I know) and for the first time breeder this is a valuable service.
I actively encourage our customers who send mares to us to use agents for the above reasons and ease of administration for us.
I have used most of the agents, World Class, Equine AI, Elite Stallions, Lambridden and yes Ken. Until all the recent uproar with covering certificates I have never had a problem with any of them.
I am sure we will still use them again ( If there are any of them left!!)for the above reasons as I think the service they provide takes away the hassle for us especially if things go wrong as they usually have far more clout to sort things out with the studs than little ol me!

If you only have a few mares and know what you are doing,then I agree you don't need them at all, as you can do it all yourself.
 
<font color="green"> Awww, thank you.
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But I know nothing about horse breeding! Well, apart from the very basics... Ok, I'll try and pop up in particularly heated threads to provide some 'green humour'.
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Actually, that's not a bad plan at all - this seems to be a great place to hide from that nasty Shilasdair who keeps being mean to me.
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