Morphology is a multipurpose tool that provides a variety of benefits to suit the individual needs of your enterprise. A motility score is a familiar semen test and provides some related information however morphology represents a very important part of a bull breeding soundness evaluation (BBSE) (Australian Cattle Vets Association , 2013). A morphology report will present a number of sperm defects in a sample of 100 sperm that you can start to create patterns between based on the bull’s environment and lineage. 

At Bar H we are using morphology information to do the following; 

• Delegating and separating our bulls into more appropriate mobs for better conception rates (single sire and multi sire herds)
• Semen and bull sales quality assurance
• Judging stress adaptation 
• Understanding hereditary defects 
• Making culling decisions more confidently

If you are morphology testing for semen or bull sales it is a small price to pay to give the product integrity. It seems like a large cost however it eliminates variability and provides quality assurance – this makes us more confident in our product and further stabilises our business relationships. 

For our own breeding purposes, we can create and interpret patterns of nutrition and stress adaptation – given that when an animal is under stress, their fertility is the first thing to be compromised. This helps us make better bull replacement decisions, for example we had two embryo brothers who had been handled exactly the same since birth, one of them tested as a qualify and the other got a tick – this helped us better understand who would most appropriately fit into our operation as a single sire herd bull. 

Jane Armstrong from Insight Repro speaks passionately about this, and explains that if morphology testing is done consistently, you can start to establish patterns between the different sorts of genetics being used – this will allow you to make better management decisions, however it is just one element of what needs to be considered. For example; if you have an alpha male with average morphology who breeds primarily terminal cattle, and you decide to put him with a better morphology bull who has less of a pack mentality – it may defeat the purpose of you having bulls morph tested if the alpha male doesn’t let the other bull have a go. 

In a commercial operation, the following example may be applicable; 

• Say it costs you $75 per bull not including travel to get it’s morphology tested. 
• Your budget allocates for $60,000 a year to replace your paddock bulls. 
• If you spend $2000 a year to have a complete semen analysis of your existing bulls, you can save $58 000 by not having to replace your bulls, because you were able to better understand them and where they need to be placed to achieve maximum conception. 
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Morphology testing is providing our team with fresh data that we are able to break down and cultivate fresh information from, which in turn is helping us become better breeders, graziers, and business people. 

References

Australian Cattle Vets Association . (2013). Morphological Examination of Sperm . In A. C. Association, Vetinary Bull Breeding Soundness Evaluation (pp. 74-94). Eight Mile Plains : Australian Cattle Veterinarians.

Blackwood, D. C. (2018, March 26). Fertility Testing Bulls . Retrieved from Warrnambool Veterinary : https://wvc.com.au/fertility-testing-bulls/