Australia’s pig producers receive semen by helicopter

With flood waters in Queensland, Australia, covering an area the size of Germany and France many piggeries have become isolated. This has meant that they have been unable to receive – by conventional means at least – any semen for sows ready to be mated.
Yet semen supplier Pork Storks Australia has continued to deliver its product to piggeries isolated by the waters.
While deliveries were initially made with vehicles crossing flooded roads and bridges, safety issues meant that this approach had to cease, and the company decided that it needed to take a more pro-active approach, securing the use of a helicopter and a light plane to deliver semen to isolated piggeries.
Bridget Jervois, operations at Prok Storks Australia said: “We wanted to act early to acquire helicopters to ensure that customers’ mating programs were minimally disrupted. That said, there were, and continue to be, several difficulties to overcome as part of our plan, including extreme weather conditions from a tropical cyclone, a couple of forced landings, and the limited availability of aircraft in light of evacuations of entire towns.
“The team also coordinated the delivery of semen to regional landing sites, where customers came to collect the semen. What’s more, Pork Storks Australia also used their helicopter to deliver emergency veterinary supplies to these isolated piggeries.”