IMV Technologies Gedis The unique ready to use AI concept Book

GEDIS® - A Revolutionary Idea For everyone to succeed in today’s livestock industry, we must identify and lower overall production costs and efficiency to allow producers to stay rapidly changing market.

increasingly global develop solutions to improve production competitive in this

With this in mind, in early 2001, the GEDIS® AI catheter was introduced to the European market. Today, over 5.5 million doses of semen are packaged using the GEDIS® catheter every year.

Safety

The Concept

Stem

Gel

Filling plug

The idea behind the GEDIS® is to maximize the efficiency of both labor and reproductive performance during insemination.

The GEDIS® is a complete insemination unit with the semen and catheter “All-In-One”. The semen is packaged along the length of the catheter shaft in a collapsible membrane.

Extension Tip

Silicon Membran

The semen is held in the GEDIS® by a temperature sensitive gel plug which is designed to melt at 100°F. Once the GEDIS® is inserted, the sow’s body temperature activates the insemination process by warming the semen and the gel plug up to 100°F. As a result, the gel plug melts and the semen is released.

Time Saving Design No more time wasted holding the bottle or tube for minutes on end, while other sows are waiting to be bred. This innovative concept produces significant time savings during AI (up to 75%).

The GEDIS® “AutoInsemination” concept allows the technician to breed more females in a shorter amount of time while improving the quality of breeding through better heat detection and stimulation of sows.

7

Compare The Difference

6 5 4 Minutes

6,50

3 2 2,50

1 1,00

0 Technician Time per Insemination GEDIS® AI Catheter AI w/ Hanger AI Conventional

Better by Design The GEDIS® is simple to use. Its “All-In-One” concept does not require any additional supplies. The technician only has to carry the catheter. It does not require pre-warming, and once the GEDIS® is inserted, the sow’s body temperature drives the insemination process.

The GEDIS® is designed to suit the reproductive requirements of the ovulating sow.

Individually sealed, the GEDIS® improves sanitation and optimizes hygiene. The design also incorporates a multi-flange tip which prevents the back flow of semen from the cervix and increases semen retention.

Improved Breeding Consistency Research has proven that breeding technician fatigue occurs when a technician inseminates too many animals in a short time period. It was reported that technicians, performing more than 10 inseminations before taking a break, have farrowing rates reduced from 85% to 78%. More than 15 services without a break show a further reduction in farrowing rate to 71%.

By reducing the time per service, the GEDIS® reduces technician fatigue and improves the consistency of matings. In addition, once the catheter is inserted during insemination, the GEDIS® allows for hands free insemination so technicians are able to concentrate on better heat detection and stimulation during the breeding process.

Field Trial Results - Proven Performance By increasing breeding consistency during insemination, breeding becomes “child’s play”. The majority of producers using the GEDIS® AI catheter have seen an improvement in reproductive performance. The following results are from field trials which were conducted in several countries. These trials clearly show that the GEDIS® AI catheter is a tool to increase productivity and decrease production costs.

Field trials have been conducted at multiple commercial breeding facilities in the United States. In these trials the GEDIS® “All-InOne” AI catheter manufactured by Genes Diffusion was compared with existing conventional AI methods using splitted ejaculate.

USA Data was analyzed by incorporating a fertility index. The index was calculated as follows: (Farrowing Rate x Avg. Total Born) = Fertility Score. (Table 1)

Number Bred

Number Farrowing Total Farrowed Rate (%) Born

Average Total Born

Average Fertility Index

GEDIS®

616

522

84.70 %(a)

6,568

12.58(A)

10.66(ab)

Conventional AI

639

528

82.63 %(a)

6,418

12.16(B)

10.04(ac)

.42

6.17 %

GEDIS® Advantage

2.11 %

a

- Different superscripts denote significant differences (P< 0.05) within column.

- Different superscripts denote significant differences (P< 0.05) within column. ab, ac - Different superscripts denote significant differences (P< 0.05) within column.

A, B

In a second trial, the average insemination time of a technician using a GEDIS® AI catheter was compared to a technician using conventional AI catheters with a dose hanger or other apparatus to hold a semen dose.

This trial was conducted on a 2,200-sow herd over a 9-week period in 2003. The results of this trial are listed in the following table.

(Table 2) In this trial, the average insemination time with the GEDIS® was 1.54 minutes while the average insemination time using conventional AI was 2.83 minutes.

Table 2

GEDIS® AI Catheter

Conventional AI Method

545

542

1.544

2.834

# of sows Average Time GEDIS® Savings

1.29 If the farm does 250 matings / week 5 Hrs 22 Min

Labor Savings / Wk ®

The GEDIS had a clear advantage of over 1.29 minutes compared to other conventional AI methods.

France — 2002 The following data shows the impact of the GEDIS® AI catheter in 154 sow production facilities in France. The data clearly demonstrates the ability of the GEDIS® AI catheter to maintain breeding consistency and production over a large number of various sites. # of Farms 154 ®

Conventional AI 14,522 Sows

GEDIS 6,952 Sows

Farrowing Rate

83.1%

Avg.Total Born

12.00

Services

21,283

84.4%

Farrowing Rate

87.7%

12.40

Avg. Total Born

13.15

United Kingdom Conventional AI

GEDIS®

Sows breed

228

283

Litters Farrowed

201

249

Farrowing Rate

88.15%

87.98%

12.34

13.08

1087.86

1150.08

Type of AI Catheter

Total Born /Litter Fertility Index

Source: Rattlerow– Seghers

“With the GEDIS®, the performances are excellent (table above), compared to classical AI. In addition to an increase of over a pig per litter the producers save a lot of time. Our new stud will soon package everything in GEDIS®”.

Keith Poulson: Sales manager—Rattlerow Seghers—UK

Mexico Type of AI Catheter

Females Bred

Farrowing Rate

Total Born

Born Alive

Fertility Index

Classical

3,360

77.6%

10.62

9.64

824

GEDIS® Total

1,077

82.0% 4.4%

10.72 0.12

9.71 0.07

890 66.28

A trial was conducted at La India, a 15,000 sows system in Mexico. Both AI system were compared side by side at 10 farms over a 6 months period.

The table above, reports the combined results.

Mexico — Comparison of two methods of insemination – Jose Castaneda PhD This research was done at a 1000 sows farm. Each week, all the sows were inseminated

by GEDIS® or conventional AI, alternating catheter every other week.

GEDIS®

TRADITIONAL

618 508 83.3(a)

591 464 78.5(b)

Average and Standard Deviation Total Born Average and Standard Deviation Born Alive

10.8±0.4 9.9±0.4

10.8±0.4 9.7±0.3

Average Parity

3.9±0.5

3.8±0.4

No. of sow Inseminated No. of sow Farrowed Farrowing rate %

Fertility Index a,b

899.64

(a)

Different superscripts denote significant differences (P< 0.05) within column.

847.8(b)

These data were obtained from Pigchamp program. Farrowing rate was better with GEDIS® by 4.8%, that could be due to the fact that with GEDIS®, insemination time is reduced, and timing between inseminations are more accurate. With traditional methods, the technician starts insemination at 8 am, and finishes at 10 am and start again at 4 pm. Also, GEDIS® method is more hygienic and allows better boar stimulation.

Spain — Comparison of different insemination techniques in swine – ITG Navara 4 different insemination techniques were evaluated (traditional, GEDIS®, Intrauterine and deep uterine insemination)

• For the first two insemination systems (Foam Tip and GEDIS®), a concentration of 3.5 billion spermatozoa in 100ml dose volume was utilized.

• In the Intrauterine a concentration of 1.17 billion spermatozoa in 33ml dose volume was used.

• In the Deep Intrauterine system a concentration of 350 million in a 10ml dose volume was used.

• Females were inseminated on 11 different farms, between March, 2003 and June, 2003.

• At each farm 5 sows were bred using each system for insemination.

• Females inseminated at each farm were from the same post-wean group.

• In most farms females were inseminated 3 times, some farms only conducted 2 inseminations.

• The Deep Intrauterine Catheter was discontinued after 3 farms due to problems with the application, injury to females and the refusal of producers to continue with this system.

• Reproduction performance and labor time required for insemination were analyzed (table 1 & 2).

Table 1 — Combined reproduction data

Insemination Method

Total Females Bred

Total Females Farrowed

Farrowing Rate

Total Born

Fertility Index

Traditional AI GEDIS® Intrauterine

170 175 177

137 149 110

80.6%(a) 85.1%(a) 62.1%(b)

11.6 11.5 11.2

934.9(a) 978.6(a) 695.5(b)

a,b

Different superscripts denote significant differences (P< 0.05) within column.

The GEDIS® AI catheter displayed an appreciable advantage in time with respect to the other types of AI catheters used in the trial. With the GEDIS® an average technician time of 45 seconds was required to identify the female in heat, insert the catheter and apply stimulation. This compares to the Traditional AI catheter average time of 158 seconds and with the Intrauterine AI catheter, which averaged 161 seconds per insemination. (See Table 2)

Table 2 — Average labor time required by insemination

Insemination Method

Average Technician Time per Insemination

Traditional AI

158 Seconds(a)

GEDIS® Intrauterine

45 Seconds(b) 161 Seconds(a)

a,b

Different superscripts denote significant differences (P< 0.05) within column.

Labor and Time Savings Field trials also evaluated the amount of time necessary for a technician to breed females using both the GEDIS® and conventional AI methods (without using a dose hanger or other device). The technician’s time is defined as the length of time it took for a technician to identify and inseminate.

The following is data from a survey of 42 French producers with 4,252 females being mated using either the GEDIS® AI catheter or conventional AI methods. Matings in this trial that used a conventional AI method (either a bag or cochette) had no additional support device to hold the dose during insemination.

Comparison of Labor/ Insemination 4,252 Matings

50 40 % of Total 30 Matings / 20 Catheter 10 0 <2

2-3

3-4

4-6

6-8

>8

Minutes / Insemination GEDIS® AI Catheter

Conventional Catheter

Comparison of technician labor requirements involved in inseminations using either the GEDIS® AI catheter or manual insemination using a conventional AI catheter are shown in the graph above.

In this trial, the average time the technician spent with the GEDIS® was 2 minutes and 14 seconds while the average technician time using manual insemination and conventional AI was 5 minutes and 19 seconds. In this comparison the GEDIS® had a clear advantage over conventional AI methods of over 3 minutes and 5 seconds; a time savings of 58%.

GEDIS® Packaging Systems GEDIS® Packaging systems are available to fit any packaging need from a small on-farm lab to larger production boar studs. ♦ Manual System (Serie 500): fills one GEDIS® at a time.

• • •

Capacity: 100 / hour Crank operated 80 to 85 Ml per dose

Semi automatic System: fills 2 or 3 GEDIS® at a time. ♦ 2 chamber machine (Serie 400)

• • • • •

Capacity: 200 / hour Manual insertion of the GEDIS® onto the machine Peristaltic pumps fill the GEDIS® 70 to 85 Ml per dose Reliable and cost effective

♦ 3 chamber machine (Serie 900) • • • • •

Capacity: 250 / hour Manual placement of the GEDIS® onto the machine Peristaltic pumps fill the GEDIS® 70 to 85 Ml per dose Very reliable