IT'S been hard to miss the catchy slogan used in the run-up to last week's Nargoon Bull Sale at Kilkivan.
Bob and Sheree McGill's edgy marketing angle of "My swimmers are tested! Are yours?", promoting the fact all of their Charolais and Charbray sale bulls have morphology tested semen has proved a worthwhile pursuit for the family in providing another level of reassurance to clients and potential buyers.
The McGills made the decision to start morphology testing their sale bull semen about six years ago with a Gympie-based vet to ensure semen samples have a minimum 70 percent normal sperm rate, in line with recommendations of the Australian Cattle Vets.
"We started the semen morphology testing because we wanted to offer our clients that extra element of reassurance," Sheree McGill said.
"That's what you buy a bull for - if it isn't producing healthy semen, you're not going to get your money's worth out of the bull.
"We've never had a phone call saying our bulls aren't working, which is great.
"We've also started testing our bulls for the cattle disease, pestivirus to prove our bulls are non-carriers of the disease."
Morphology testing bull semen to assess fertility has become a hot topic in Australia, and one that will continue to be in the spotlight according to Professor Peter Chenoweth, professor of veterinary reproduction at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW.
Prof Chenoweth, who is a member of Australian Cattle Vets (ACV), a special interest group of the Australian Veterinary Association, said he believed the issue of laboratory examination of sperm morphology would grow, particularly in relation to importing and exporting of semen.
At the moment, semen morphology testing is not included in the many tests conducted by AQIS when bull semen is imported into Australia, with the responsibility for morphology testing falling to the individual importing the semen.
"To me it's disappointing that morphology isn't included in AQIS tests and it's something some of us are trying to change," he said.
"AQIS is mostly concerned with biosecurity and diseases, and sperm morphology testing hasn't been part of that.
"It opens a loophole for stuff that's not up to standard to come in.
"Apart from the ACV scheme we don't have any set systems in Australia to ensure that sperm morphology is good.
"Some of us are working pretty hard on trying to lift the bar as far as the quality assurance of frozen semen in particular is concerned.
"When people get bad results, it turns them off artificial insemination. Apart from losing money and all the other economic elements, it means that if you get turned off AI, then you get turned off genetic progress, really.
"If we're interested in genetic progess then we should be pushing AI and we should be making it as effective as possible and it hasn't always been that way."
ACV has been leading the way domestically in developing a set of standards or benchmarks in determining sperm health, grouping abnormalities into seven categories besides "normal".
"The bottom line is, even though we have all these different categories, the most important measure is that these samples should have 70 percent normal sperm," Prof Chenoweth said.
"Not all morphology testing in Australia is done through the ACV scheme, but it's the only scheme out there that's been developed and has been accepted by several breed societies.
"The ACV has a bull assessment committee that develops all the guidelines for bull testing, not just the semen, and under that they have a morphology system whereby they accredit people to become morphologists.
"It's a sperm morphology accreditation scheme, and that involves examiners doing constant checks, and they're the ones ACV recognises.
"If a cattle producer wants to have bull semen morphology testing carried out, they can contact ACV and get provided with a list of morphologists who are accredited, and that list is updated as new people get accredited."
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