OUR STORY
carefully-crafted semen extender
As a small, specialized company, Cerdos, LLC’s focus is on quality before quantity. The success of our customers and clients is always at the forefront throughout the manufacturing process. At Cerdos, the focus is not on churning out enormous batches
of generic product in a huge factory setting.
our approach is different
FertiMaxx™ is carefully-crafted with the utmost integrity, in small batches by our expertly-trained technicians following the strict quality parameters set forth in our quality-assurance protocol. Each component must pass our rigorous Quality Assurance Standard for Chemical Purity and Specifications.
Compliance testing is done on every batch utilizing laboratory testing of the finished product as well as live-semen testing before a single package is released for sale. Compliance sampling is based upon conformity for sampling as found in American National Standard ANSI/ASQ Z1.9-2008 set forth by the American Society for Quality. A copy of our QA protocol is available to all customers upon request.
FertiMaxx™ is readily available in our standard formulation and packaging. We are also happy to make customized formulations and package sizes to suit your specific needs.
Our approach to manufacturing is designed to ensure that you can use every bag, every packet; every granule of FertiMaxx™ with absolute confidence!
What is fertimaxx™?
FertiMaxx™ extender was developed and designed to improve the number of fertile sperm cells in a dose of semen, allowing for semen to be processed with fewer cells per dose while still achieving maximum fertility. While other boar semen extenders utilize compounds which inhibit the sperm cell’s ability to capacitate, FertiMaxx™ was designed to reduce, replace or eliminate those compounds which inhibit capacitation. The result is that a higher percentage of sperm cells in a dose of semen have the ability to fertilize.
FertiMaxx™ is a new-generation extender, providing seven to eight day fertile storage life, advanced cold-shock protection, and improved post-insemination capacitation all in a completely non-foaming, easily-dissolved formula. This allows producers to successfully inseminate sows with less sperm cells while achieving maximum fertility and getting the most use from their very best genetics.
FertiMaxx™ is available in 40-gram pouches (1 liter), 120-gram pouches (3 liters), and 4kg bags (100 liters).
Function of Extender
Semen extenders are designed to dilute fresh boar ejaculates allowing for them to be divided into multiple insemination doses while preserving the integrity of the sperm cell, allowing it to survive outside the body for a period of time. Extenders must be balanced to the proper ph and osmolarity to provide a suitable environment for sperm. They must also control bacterial growth, protect against reactive oxygen species (ROS) and provide protection from cold-shock if semen is to be stored for more than one or two days. Diluted semen doses need to be cooled and stored at around sixteen degrees centigrade to slow metabolism and bacterial growth, thus extending the shelf-life of the sperm cells.
Determining semen quality
Semen quality is commonly assessed using a measure of motility and morphology (fully-developed, normal sperm) to determine whether or not an ejaculate or individual dose of semen is usable. While these measures are adequate in most circumstances in identifying semen that is not fit for use, they are not generally good predictors of overall fertility. Two ejaculates of equal motility and morphology when viewed under a microscope can yield quite different results when compared using actual conception rate and litter size. Such differences can be attributed to other factors such as acrosome integrity, DNA fragmentation, or whether the sperm capacitate and acrosome-react after insemination. These last steps (capacitation and acrosome reaction) are vitally important because without them a sperm cell cannot fertilize an egg.
Testing sperm cells
In order to measure a sperm cell’s ability to capacitate and acrosome-react, a test was developed using compounds and incubation in the lab to mimic the natural uterine environment post-insemination. Sperm cells are then stained and viewed with a fluorescent microscope to determine the percentage of cells that capacitate. Large differences were found between samples of the same ejaculates when diluted in extenders containing different ingredients. FertiMaxx™ was developed by using this test to examine each potential compound for its effect on capacitation. Ingredients which inhibited capacitation were eliminated, replaced or significantly reduced whenever feasible to obtain an extender that maximizes fertility.
Compared to competition
In trials against a leading competitive long-term extender, FertiMaxx™ demonstrated improved conception rate and litter size with semen doses containing two billion motile sperm cells per dose.
Many boar-semen extenders have been developed over the years. They can be primarily divided into short and long-term formulas. By far the most common and recognizable semen extender is BTS. BTS is a very basic formula that functions primarily as a diluent. One cannot obtain good long-term storage with BTS as it lacks many of the ingredients fundamental to preservation. Acceptable fertility can be obtained using semen extended in BTS up to three days post-collection. However, research has shown that semen extended in BTS has a very low rate of capacitation which can yield poorer fertility when sperm cell concentrations are reduced below three billion cells per dose.
Other extenders were developed that provided long-term preservation, however many of them contained BSA (bovine serum albumin) to provide cold-shock protection. It was later determined that BSA can irritate the uterus and promote bacterial growth which can lead to post-insemination discharge and reduced fertility. BSA also produces a large amount of foam which makes it more difficult to use in the lab. New long-term extenders came to the market which contained no BSA, however testing reveals that many of the compounds used to replace BSA in these extenders inhibit capacitation which can lower fertility when sperm cell counts are reduced.