Evaluation of whole and skimmed cow milk extenders on West African Dwarf goat Semen

Abstract

This study evaluated the efficacy of whole and skimmed cow milk as extenders for the semen of West African Dwarf (WAD) goat bucks. Semen was obtained from two adult WAD bucks (four times each) by electro-ejaculation method and maintained in an insulator at 37℃. Pre-extension and post-extension evaluations of the semen were carried out immediately, 15, 30, 45 and 60 minutes post collection. Whole and skimmed cow milk were used to extend semen obtained from the bucks. The semen characteristics evaluated included mass activity, percentage progressive motility, percentage normal livability and percentage normal morphology. Results revealed that whole cow milk effectively maintained the WAD buck semen characteristics post extension for a period of 30 minutes. Thereafter, value of each semen characteristic decreased progressively as the period of storage increased. There was rapid decrease in the characteristics of the buck semen extended with skimmed cow milk immediately post extension, the sperm cells were dead 15 minutes post extension. These findings suggest that WAD bucks can be extended with whole cow milk for 30 minutes at 37℃ successfully and not with skimmed milk.