A good friend wanted to do an experiment. He bought Chill 5 and Camelot Farms. He brought his male to me and I collected him and split it, and extended using both. I refrigerated it and kept looking at it under the Microscope every day for 8 days. At the end, the Camelot extender was by far, the better one for his particular male. I've heard that not all extenders agree with all male's sperm. The Camelot still had about 40 or 50% at the 8 day mark. The Chill 5 were long dead. I didn't keep looking after that point as I was away at a show.
I have a male here who I don't think extends overly well, (at least not with the Chill 5 that I've used on him a few times) and yet with fresh side by side collections/inseminations, we always have good results.
So I am not sure if it's just the "brand" or a combination of the brand and the dog, that determine success. Good question for the forum.
All I know is that Chill 5 hasn't worked well for my boy - 100% success with Camelot Farms shipping him. Chill 10 works okay for him too, but it's a PITA to use. I've had mixed results receiving Chill 5, and nearly perfect results using Camelot Farms. Needless to say, I prefer to send and receive Camelot Farms extender.
I've used Chill 5 w/ 4 different breeders' studs now, and my vets have been thrilled w/ the quality. I have had to sit on shipments for a few days also (removing semen and properly refrigerating it of course). Anne
Maybe some of the semen isn't good even before it's extended? Best advice is try them all with your males. Whatever works best with each dog is the way to go. I had one breeder tell me her bitch was allergic to extender. Who would guess? If you insist on a particular brand then ship it to the stud owner beforehand. Be ready.
I've had great sucess shipping my males with Chill 5 and Camelot. No difference.
I've had great luck with Chill 5 and Chill 10. I've even used semen extended with Chill 10 on day 11 when the shipment got lost and still got a small litter. I have never used Camelot Farms.
