Hey guys,

What is the longest any of you have ever had semen in the 5 day extender and had a successful breeding?

Have any of you had semen evaluated at day 5,6, or even 7?

So far all of my semen shipments have been in the US or Canada but I have an Intl shipment coming up and assuming there are no delays through customs it could take 5 days to get there if delivery is scheduled over a weekend.

Would you assume that the semen would all be dead or dying on day 5 and go with chill 10 or would you still use chill 5?

Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences with me.

I would go with Chill 10.

I would not expect viable semen after 5 days in transit. Chill 5 was intended to be used when shipping may run into a problem with holidays, etc. So, it should be shipped overnight like most semen, and then it can be stored in the fridge for up to 5 days. But, 5 days in transit is doubtful. It would get too warm.

Good point.

We shipped to Sweden about 6 weeks ago. Our repro vet strongly recommended using Chill 10 as she felt we would get better mobility even though Fed Ex was "supposed to" delivery in 3 days, it actually took 5 as they took it on to Denmark by mistake. The semen arrived with 70% mobility and currently puppies are on the way.
Considering Chill 10 requires egg yoke, JMO I would use a repro vet with experience using it.

I've used chill 5 a couple times and just out of curiosity kept back a small sample from the first shipment. I still had visable swimmer on day 7 post collection. The sample was not quite a nice as it was at the time of collection. I would have kept checking longer but my inlaws were coming over for a visit and I didn't want to explain what I was keeping in fridge But I was satified that Chill 5 works great on my boy.

Good luck with your INTL shipment.

This is a great test, but not applicable to her situation. She needs the semen to be in transit, and unrefrigerated for 5 days. Ain't gonna happen, whether she used Chill 5 or 10.

On our 5 day shipment the Chill 10 worked great, like I said with puppies on the way.

Heres a tip:
On an overseas shipment, get a bigger box (syrofoam insert of course) and put two even three freezer bricks in the box. It does work. I've done it many times. Stays cold for at least four days and then some.

Thanks for the tips you guys.

I called Minitube today and got their "official" opinion. They suggest that 48 hours shipping should be the maximum whether it's chill 5 or 10. I think I'm going to plan to ship Monday through Wednesday with chill 10 to ensure a 36-48 hour transit time. If it gets there a bit early they can stick it in the fridge.

Thanks again you guys.