Greyhound Racing New Zealand is establishing a New Zealand frozen semen bank (FS bank) for their trainers and owners, to allow greater access to a range of frozen semen from Australia.
The greyhound breeding industry in New Zealand is relatively small and depends largely on using imported semen from Australia
to gain access to top Australian sires. The shipping and handling costs to import this semen is prohibitive for most New Zealand breeders.
Chief executive Lance Bickford said that a detailed feasibility study has been undertaken to carefully review any of the risks that may be associated with setting up such a bank in New Zealand, and he was confident that it would provide an effective facility for the greyhound industry.
"By buying up to 60 straws at a time, and covering the cost of shipping and handling, we can provide frozen semen at reasonable cost to New Zealand breeders," Bickford said.
"Local breeders will soon have better, and more affordable, access to top Australian frozen semen and this should help improve our NZ gene pool further.
"In time, it is hoped that this concept could lead to New Zealand becoming an exporter of frozen semen itself in the future."
A full tracking system of the FS straws will be put in place by January next year. This is an important process in creating the FS bank so that at each stage during handling, any particular FS straw can be tracked to its whereabouts and authorised use.
"The first set of 60 straws should hopefully arrive in the next eight weeks. The products will be marketed in the New Zealand Greyhound magazine and on our web site www.thedogs.co.nz. Orders can also be made through these channels which will be directed to our office for processing," he said.
Greyhound Racing NZ received funding support from the New Zealand Racing Board for this initiative.
